Shell Shocked
by Spinjitzugirl6310
Summary: Slight AU. April O'Neil and her best friend Spike Sanchez were working ordinary stories, at an ordinary news station, in New York City, when their lives were completely torn apart by four vaguely familar creatures fighting against a growing evil. Accepting the existance of strangeness is one thing, helping it is a little harder. (Revised!)
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, guys. I decided to revise this one too.**

Once Upon a Time, heroes stood on a dock in New York City, and neither knew they were heroes.

This is where we start, of course, this is where all good hero stories start, and the heroes are unknown or nonexistent at the very beginning. So, no cape, no mask, no lair for these two women, attempting to interview a dock worker about a recent crime wave by the criminal organization known as the Foot Clan, a skilled group of terrorists.

Technically, the only one talking and interviewing is the woman in the yellow jacket, named April O'Neil, a news reporter for Channel 6. With her wavy brown hair, light blue eyes, and youthful appearance, sadly she has never generated much respect among her co-workers, despite the fact that she's not their _worst _reporter.

The woman _not _interviewing the co-worker is April O'Neil's bodyguard, heavy, muscle, whatever you want to term her. Perhaps a more accurate term would be _friend, _but strangely enough, that doesn't dawn on people until April clears it up.

So, April's companion is called Spike. That's what she's called, but her real name is Sarah Sanchez. No one has called her Sarah in the last twelve years. At six foot, Spike is tall and muscular for a woman. She cuts an intimidating figure, with the ability to strike terror into just about any mere mortal with just one flash of her gray-blue eyes. Her originally fair skin has tanned little over the years; she is still very pale, with a firm jawline.

The odd thing is that she _is _April's friend, a very close and dear friend who April has known her entire life. Neither can imagine their lives without the other's presence, and there is a good reason for that.

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

April has known Sarah Sanchez since kindergarten after Sarah helped her up after April had fallen on the playground. Sarah had taken a shine to April, and taken the girl under her wing. Sarah was six, and seemed very wise to the five year old April, who was absolutely thrilled as a result of Sarah's attention. April was an only child, but Sarah was no stranger to being an older sister. She had two younger sisters, one barely sixteen months old, and one of age four.

By first grade they were inseparable. It was always Sarah and April to the teachers, even to their parents at times. April's father, a scientist, often let the two into his laboratory to play with the lab rat, and four little lab turtles.  
There was no shadow on their lives until the car accident.

Sarah was seven years old, and down with the flu. April had been cautioned against visits, and Sarah's parents, Ian and Christina Sanchez, decided to make their weekly grocery stop early to pick up medicine for their eldest daughter. They left, kissing her forehead and promising they'd be back soon, and she'd feel better.

They never came back, her parents and her sisters.

An intoxicated driver had caused the accident, and Molly and Lily, her two younger sisters, were gone. Her parents were gone.

And though no one would suspect it, it broke her heart.

After that, she didn't laugh anymore, not like she used to. She never cried. Ever since the car accident, she never shed a tear. Not even at the funeral, when April had wrapped her arms around her in a comforting hug. Sarah had been stone faced.

April had understood. April always understood. And Spike understood too, when a laboratory fire claimed April's father's life merely months after. April sat and sobbed after that, and Spike had sat there with a box of tissues, ready for whatever April had needed.

"I'll protect you," she had vowed. "I promise. I'll keep you safe as long as I live."

She did, too. Throughout school, when April took the drama club and cheerleading, Sarah took up almost every other sport, from basketball and martial arts in school, to wrestling, boxing and football teams that were outside of school territory. She built muscle, a lot of it, and used her impressive size and personality to make sure people thought twice before they picked on April. In seventh grade, kids began calling her _'Spike'. _What started as a nickname whispered in hallways while the girl well on her way to six foot stalked past became what everyone, even herself, knew her by.

April O'Neil was Spike's only friend, and they both knew it. After they graduated, April became a news reporter, and Spike was right behind her. Despite Spike's take-charge attitude, April always led, and Spike always followed.

**Thanks for reading, guys. Please let me know what you think in a review, it really helps. As always, I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

"April!" Vern Fenwick calls. April turns to glance at her cameraman, leaning against a stack of crates on the dock.

April sighs and walks quickly over. "Yes?"

"April," Vern begins. "I think you should let this one go." He folds his sunglasses and puts them in his jacket pocket. "I mean, this is pointless. You've been trying to crack this guy for fifteen minutes, and you haven't gotten anything. Unless you want Sanchez to smash him against a wall for you, you're not going to get any info out of him."

April stares at him in disbelief.

"It's an option," Spike mutters to her.

April waves her away. "I can do this, I can get this story!" she protests. "I've almost got him to talk. See?"

She turns back to point to where the man was standing a minute ago.

The operative word being _was._

"Great," April sighs.

Spike shoves her hands in her pockets. "We'll come back and get the guy later. Besides, you're on in a half hour. We should probably get going anyway."

"Yeah. Next time."

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

"I always get the fluff pieces," April gripes half an hour later. "I want something meatier, you know?"

Vern shakes his head. "People like it." He points at Spike as she loads up the back of the van. "Careful with the camera!"

"I _don't_ like it," April says, crossing her arms.

"She's right," Spike says, closing the van doors. "She's been at this long enough that she deserves actual stories. I miss investigative journalism.

"You read too many _Superman _comics. It's not really like Lois Lane. And besides, April, people like the froth."

"Froth?" April asks in disbelief.

"Yeah. Froth…like the stuff in coffee. You order coffee, and they put in the coffee…and then they put in the froth," Vern explains.

"That's foam," April tells him. "I don't want to do 'froth,'" April says. "I want an actual _story._"

"Well…..hey, it's nice. With all the disasters, all the _'actual stories'_, people want to turn on the TV at 6:00 and see…nice things. They look at that and see….they see candy, after all that meat, you know."

"Candy?" April repeats.

Spike ominously cracks her neck, folding her arms. "April, you want me to…?" she indicates Vern. "Take care of him or somethin'?"

"Calm down, Spike, it's alright."

Spike glances at the sky. "We gotta be home soon, there's that one show you wanna see tonight, it's on in a few hours," she says pointedly. Her eyes flicker to Vern for a second and then back to April.

April sighs, getting the message. "Yeah, and it's a long bike ride home. Bye, Vern. See you tomorrow."

"Bye, O'Neil." Vern crosses his arms as April walks away, unlocking her bike. Spike turns to follow her.

Vern grabs her arm. "Sanchez."

Spike turns. "What do you want, Fenwick?"

"Lay off April, okay? She's not your kid. She's not your responsibility; will you quit acting like I'm poison? You never even give me the chance to ask her out. What's up with that?"

"April knows my feelings concerning you," Spike says calmly. She grabs his wrist and pries his hand off of her arm. "The decision in the end is up to her, but remember, I am ignored. I've been in the lounge room, I've heard you talk about her. You want to get a date with my friend and get me off your back? Friendly tip." She leans in and hisses through her teeth. "Don't objectify her, or next time I hear a comment like that, we'll be having a different conversation."

"Is that a threat?" Vern asks shakily.

"It's a promise."

"Spike, come on!" April shouts, gesturing at Spike's bicycle. "I know your motorcycle's in the shop and you're embarrassed to ride one of mine, but come on!"

"I'm coming." She turns and walks towards the bike. "I was just clearing something up."

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

"What was that about?" April demands, taking off her helmet and setting it on the coffee table in their little apartment.

"He was gettin' pushy," Spike explains, sitting down. "He's after you all the time, treating you more like a trophy than a person, and you never tell him off."

"So it's _your_ job to tell him off?" April asks, pulling out her phone.

Spike shrugs. "Who're you callin'?"

"The guy I was talking to earlier today. He's gotta know something." She glances up. "We have leftover pizza in the fridge. Get some of that out and eat, because I'm going to get a scoop tonight, and _not _a scoop of the ice cream in the freezer."

"Can I have _that _scoop?" Spike asks, making her way into the kitchen.

April rolls her eyes and waves her off. "Shoo. Something tells me we're going to be making another trip to the docks tonight."

**I hate it when I go back, look at something I wrote, and almost cry because of how bad it looks now, hence the revision. I think it's an improvement!**

**If you agree, let me know what you think in a review, it helps me out a lot. As always, I'll see you guys in the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

Sure enough, an hour later, April and Spike ride their bikes up to the chain link fence by the docks in the dark. "He said I could come ask a couple more questions," April explains, climbing off of the bicycle and leaning it against the chain link fence.

Spike nods, dismounting as well. She freezes, cocking her head. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" April whispers.

"Voices."

April nods in understanding. "It's probably just dock workers."

Spike peers forward into the dark, eyes widening. "They've got guns, April." She drops into a crouch as April stands on the balls of her feet, trying to see.

"The Foot Clan," April whispers. "This could be my big break!"

"Yeah," Spike mutters. "Your big broken neck. Keep it down or they'll find us!" She grabs April's arm, trying to drag her down where she won't be as visible.

April shakes her off and pulls out her phone, preparing to take a photo.

"Are you nuts?" Spike hisses incredulously.

April shakes her head. All of her senses are heightened, even the feel of the air seems overwhelming as she steadies her camera.

Just as she snaps a picture, there is noise. Spike wraps her arms around April's legs and forces her to the ground, leaning over her.

"What are you doing?" April whispers frantically. "You're in my way!"

"They might have found us," Spike says tersely. "Shots are gonna be fired." Sure enough, gunfire breaks out, but it's not aimed at them. In fact, it's taking place several yards away.

The Foot soldiers, men and women clad in black with heavy weaponry, were usually an efficient organization. Tonight, they appeared to be all out of their usual stride, shouting, firing wildly, breaking into a panic.

Spike involuntarily ducks as a shipping crate moves, lifting off of the ground and smashing into a few Foot clan vehicles. "Dude," she whispers. "What _is _that? Terminator 3000?"

Then, as suddenly as the commotion started, it stops. April shoves a stunned Spike off of her and stands, squinting at the top of a building. She brings her phone up and snaps a picture of a blurry shape disappearing over the top, then slides around the fence and peers at the side of a shipping crate at a mark, spray painted in red.

"Does this look familiar?" April asks.

Spike shakes herself, following her over. "Maybe. I dunno. What is it?"

April takes a picture of the marking. "Not sure. We gotta investigate." She turns, grinning. "This is it, Spike, this is my story! My scoop! This will catapult me to the big leagues for sure!"

"April, we gotta get home," Spike says deliberately. "I don't know what we just saw, but it was weird. Completely. The Foot Clan just had their rear ends handed to them on a platter by something with the power to _lift shipping crates._ We need to get home."

April puts her phone away. "Spike, I'm going to Channel 6 headquarters. You can come with me, or you can go home."

Spike's forehead furrows.

"You chicken?" April asks cheekily.

Spike glares, heading for the bicycles. "Come on, let's go."


	4. Chapter 4

Half an hour later, April stomps back out of Channel 6's headquarters, fuming mad. "You'll never believe this, Spike. You just _won't _believe it! It's infuriating!"

"They didn't believe you," Spike guesses dryly.

April glares and sits back down on the bike. "Yeah." She blows her hair away from her face. "Spike, what am I going to do? Should I chase this down? I _know _I've got something here. I've got to prove my story!"

Spike gives her a sideways glance and raises a thick eyebrow. "Uh-huh. How? We didn't exactly _see_ anyone. We saw a bunch of Foot soldiers running scared from something that could hurl shipping crates, which means they're smarter than we are. So, the question is, how are we going to find something we never quite saw?"

April looks at her. "You don't have to help. They all think I'm crazy."

Spike gives her a long look. "People have been saying that about me for fourteen years." She puts her foot on the pedal of her bike and straightens up. "Where do we start?"

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

Unfortunately for our dynamic duo, they had plans for the next evening.

April and Spike stand in the back of one of the rooms in Sacks Industry, listening to CEO Eric Sacks, a brilliant scientist and philanthropist, speak about bringing the Foot Clan down. They listen to a story he told of the day several years ago when his colleagues and employees were attacked by the Foot, and how Sacks Industry was going to help keep the city safe.

"So whenever anyone tries to set fire to this city," Sacks concludes his speech. "I'll be there to put it out. And that's a promise."

Applause breaks out ass Eric Sacks steps down and heads across the room.

April taps Spike's arm and inclines her head. "I want to go talk to him."

Spike glances at her, looking stern in her black business suit, a contrast to April's dress that flattered her slim figure. "What?"

"Sacks. I want to talk to him. Come on."

Spike nods. "Lead the way."

The two weave throughout the crowd, cutting Sack's path off before he can be accosted by any other well-wishers. April shakes his hand. "Mr. Sacks. I'm April O'Neil. You worked with my father."

"I can't believe it," he smiles. "I haven't seen you since…"

"Since my father's funeral," April says, swallowing hard. "A long time ago. And you remember Sarah Sanchez." She indicates Spike.

Spike reaches forward and clasps the scientist's hand. "Hello."

"Little Sarah. I remember you." He takes his hand back, chuckling. "Grip of a blacksmith, eh? The years have done well for you both."

"You yourself have changed little," Spike says cordially. She wasn't just being polite. Sacks looks primarily the same, hair a little grayer and thinner, but his face is still a pale shade, and his eyes still intelligent and sharp, and almost dangerous. He had a sympathetic look as he spoke, as though he understood you and wanted to help you. Eric Sacks could have gone into politics, looking especially aloof in his business suit.

"Anyway I just wanted you to know that your words really resonated with me," April says earnestly. "And that I hope to one day contribute to the city the way that you do."

"Well, it looks like you're doing a pretty good job," Sacks says kindly. "Channel 6, impressive. Sarah working on it too?"

"She is. And thank you." April's smile drops. "It isn't exactly everything I anticipated it would be."

"As long as you stay true to yourself," Mr. Sacks says reassuringly. "Your father will always be proud of you."

April nods, biting her lip.

"Mr. Sacks, we have to be uptown by 7:00," one of his security escorts says quietly. Mr. Sacks nods in acknowledgement.

"I'll see you on TV," he tells April, turning to leave.

As he exits the room, April inhales shakily.

"He's right," Spike says. "If your dad could see you now, he'd be proud."

April lifts her chin. "He'll be even prouder when we get that story, Spike. Even prouder."

Spike sighs, eyes straight ahead. "Then we'd better find something soon."


	5. Chapter 5

April O'Neil sits in the passenger seat of the Channel 6 van, next to Vernon Fenwick, after the event.

"Eric Sacks was so inspiring," April says, staring out the windshield. "I know this is a story that actually matters."

"The superhero one?" Vern asks.

Spike's voice comes from the back of the van as she packs their fancy clothes away. "Vigilante."

Vern pointedly ignores her. "That's a good one, we should chase that down."

"The vigilante is bringing hope back to the city, Vern. Whoever is doing this deserves recognition," April argues.

The van stops in traffic as a hubbub erupts on the streets. The normally chaotic streets of New York City are even more chaotic. People stream past the van in a panicked, muddled hoard, screaming, shoving, running, grabbing, surging, despite the vehicles on the road. They overflow from the sidewalks.

Spike leans up in between the seats. "What's going on here?"

"Yeah..." Vern leans forward slightly, confused. "Where's everybody going?"

April unbuckles her seatbelt and Spike clambers to her hands and knees.

"O'Neil, wait..." Vern starts to protest as April climbs out of the van. "April, where are you going?"

Spike opens the back of the van, grimly following April into the marauding horde.

"Sanchez!" Vern calls. "Where are you guys going?"

"See ya, Fenwick." Spike waves over her shoulder.

April is already gone, heading towards the den of danger, the belly of the monster, the thing everyone else appears to be running away from.

"What's going on?" April asks, raising her voice above the racket. "What are you running from?" She turns, looking behind her"Stay close, Spike!"  
Spike nods, already moving at a comfortable pace to keep up with her eager friend.

Finally, the two come to the source of the terror: the subway.

April and Spike push their way onward and downward, into the bright subway.

"The Foot," April whispers. Spike's blood runs cold, and she grabs her Taser.

A Foot soldier, clad in the traditional black and holding a small firearm, paces the area.

April sidles to a hiding spot next to a few vending machines, the yellow jacket and purple shirt making her even brighter in the small shadow the machines offer. Spike moves over to join her, her black jacket making it slightly easier to hide, despite the fact that her own shirt is a decided red color, showing clearly where the jacket remained unzipped.

Moving quietly as the Foot soldier turns his back, April and Spike move to the garbage can a few feet away to keep watching, eerie silence filling the subway station. They move a few more yards and hide again.

April creeps out, takes another step, and an unrelenting arm winds around her throat. April gurgles.

Spike whips around, highly tuned to her friend's various distress signals. Her heart almost freezes as she takes in the sight of a Foot soldier with his arm around April's back and the gun pointed at the reporter's temple. Spike quickly shoves the Taser back in her pocket of her jacket. "Let her go!" She throws her hands into the air, palms wide. "I'll come, but don't hurt her."

"We'll come," April gasps.

The Foot soldier wordlessly aims the gun at Spike, and jerks his head forward. The meaning was clear.

_March._

Spike catches April's gaze, holding it steadily, making sure she looks impassive, trying to calm April, even as they're shoved to the floor to join several other people. These kidnappings are indiscriminate.

"Hostage situation," Spike murmurs, trying to keep the fear from her voice.

"Why didn't you Taser him?" April whispers incredulously.

"He was holding a gun on you."

"Well, we're here. We gotta do something."

Spike glances around, eyes widening. "They're hooking up bombs next to the hostages," she hisses. "I don't know how to disarm a bomb!"

"Pull a wire, right?" April asks, sitting up a little.

"Nobody move!" someone cries. A commanding looking Japanese woman with red highlights in her hair takes the floor at the center of the room, looking around the room. "We know you're out there!" the woman cries. "If you don't surrender, we will start executing hostages!"

"It's a response to last night," April realizes. "These vigilantes are squashing their control!"

"Executing hostages," Spike mutters as guns are pointed, one by one, at the heads of people around the room.

April pulls her camera out of her pocket, aiming it quietly.

"April, no," Spike whispers urgently. She grabs April's arm and yanks it down.

The leader of this band of Foot spots the movement, and pulls a gun on April. "You!" She begins to approach April, who is still lying on the ground. "Stand up!"

April opens her mouth in shock, and Spike throws herself over April like a blanket in the same instant the lights go out.


	6. Chapter 6

In the dark, noise broke out. Not the noise of people, the noise of a subway train pulling in, and a voice hollering: "All Aboard!"

As the train streaks by, shapes jump off the top of it. Obscured by dark one moment, almost illuminated by the flashing lights of the subway the next, the figures move quickly towards the Foot clan.

Guns are fired, but just as last night, they didn't seem to slow the forms down any. Karai falls to the ground, shoved over by an unseen, unknown attacker. Foot soldiers scatter and drop all around the room, doubled over in pain, unconscious, some bleeding.

All this April can see from underneath Spike, and Spike can see from her position crouching over April. April picks up her phone again, trying to focus a picture on the action. This time, Spike pays her no mind as she rounds her back in much the manner of an angry and protective cat.

Then, just as suddenly as everything started, the forms disappeared again.

The subway station falls deathly quiet, and the lights come back on, and Spike breathes again.

"You can get up now," April whispers. "It's over."

Spike crouches, then stands cautiously, hand still clenched around her Taser. She reaches down with her other hand and hauls April to her feet. "You okay?" Spike asks shakily, looking her friend over carefully.

April nods wordlessly, and points behind Spike. She whirls, taking in the sight of Foot soldier after Foot soldier, neatly tied up and strung together in a row. "What could have done that so fast?" April asks.

"I don't know. I think we should get out of here. There's plenty of story here for the both of us."

SWAT teams disappear into the subway station as streams of civilians, including April and Spike, clear the area. Spike leads April down the sidewalk, attempting to put distance between themselves and the subway. As they approach the bottom of an apartment building, Spike turns to face the congested streets of New York while April turns her back to it, craning her neck to stare at the top of the building.

"We need to get back to the apartment. Who knows if the Foot's got guys around here or something? Those bombs are still there. We're not out of danger, maybe we'll see if we can get back to the van and get out of-"

Something clangs.

Spike spins quickly, anxiously eyeing the side of the building as fear begins to build. No sign of April.

_Clang._

Spike stares up, and spots April, in her bright yellow jacket, climbing up the fire escape.

"April!" she whisper half-heartedly. "Ohhhh….." She glares and begins climbing, catching up to April before she gets herself killed.

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

Spike hasn't let go of the Taser since they saw the mess starting. Now she draws it out of her pocket and begins up the stairs, irritably criticizing herself, April's decision making, and the Foot clan in general.

She glances up after a minute or so of pursuit, eyes widening and face turning white as she realizes April is nowhere in sight.

She picks up speed, using her arms as much as her legs in hauling herself up the stairs, then clambering up a ladder as fast as humanly possible, her gut twisting as she pokes her head up over the lip of the building, searching for April's familiar yellow jacket in the dark.


	7. Chapter 7

She found the jacket alright, on April O'Neil, lying crumpled on the ground, surrounded by four armed, hulking forms, twice to three times her own size. One knelt by April, reaching for her, the others bent over her. They were huge, muscled, and each had a rounded hump on their back. The main thing is each looked incredibly menacing in the dark, and one long arm was reaching for April's neck.

Spike's eyes flash with anger and terror for her friend, and she pushes herself up and hollers. "Hey! You! Back away from her! All of you!"

The form reaching for April pauses, turns. Light from the streetlamps flashes off of something over its eyes, goggles or something.

The shortest of the four approaches her, and light falls onto him, revealing a green, scaly face with an orange mask in a thin band around the head, with cutouts for the wide blue eyes.

He holds up his hands. "Dude, we didn't do anything." Nunchucks dangled from one three fingered hand. He looks at his nunchucks sheepishly. "Uhhhh…."

In a fight-or-flight world, Spike is very much fight, and very little flight, especially where her friend is concerned. Spike decks the creature in front of her, deciding to investigate later.

"Ouch, hey!" He backs up, clutching his nose.

"You better back off," a deep, gravelly voice warns. Behind the hurt one, a similar creature, quite a bit taller looms in the dark, clenching his fists. He raises one and reaches down, before stopping. "You're not Foot."

"Raph!" the orange-masked creature groans. "She broke my whole nose."

Spike wasn't quite quick enough to dodge the blend of smack and punch, and almost skitters back over the edge of the building. She rolls back over, feeling a little sick, heaving air back into her lungs.

The big creature turns back around. "An' stay down."

"Over my dead body." Grimacing, Spike stands up and ducks around him, aiming a back kick at his knee before bolting to April, slamming her entire weight into the creature bent over her. "Get off her!"

"Woah!" On his back, the creature holds up both hands, squinting at her through thick glasses.

Spike aims her Taser at him, shaking profusely. "I'll use this, I swear!" she says fiercely. "What did you do to my friend?"

"You know her?"

"Yes!" Spike snaps. "What are you, and what did you do to her?!"

"I didn't do anything! She passed out!" her captive cries. "I promise, I didn't touch her! I was making sure she was okay!"

"Raph, take care of her," an exasperated fourth voice says.

A huge arm wraps around her waist and lifts her off of her informant, pressing her back against a hard surface, feet on the ground. She tries to twist to face her assailant, but the iron grip is unrelenting.

Spike struggles in it. "April! April, talk to me, are you okay?!"

April woozily cracks open an eye. "Where…..Spike?"

"Run, April," Spike grits desperately. She smacks her head backward into her captor's chin. "Loosen up a little, chum."

"Forget it."

"Miss, if you'll forgive us, we can't let you leave just yet," the fourth voice says calmly. He steps in front of them, a little taller than six foot, green, scaly, sword carrying, fully upright, with a giant shell on his back. "We can explain."


	8. Chapter 8

"Okay," April says shakily. "So, explain. What are you?"

"Well, Miss…..we're ninjas."

"We're mutants," Spike's captor rumbles. His grip finally loosens and Spike spins out of it, staring up at the massive wall of shell and muscle with a red facemask. He glances at her and puts his sais back in his belt.

The one attending to April, the tall one in the purple mask with the glasses and a bo staff corrects him. "Well, technically we're turtles."

"Oh, and we're also teenagers," the one in the orange adds. He flips his nunchucks over his shoulder.

April rises to her feet slowly. "So….Ninja…Mutant…Turtle…Teenagers?".

The tall one shakes his head. "Well when you put it like that, it sounds _ridiculous._"

"Fine," Spike crosses her arms. "How about Adolescent Genetically Altered Shinobi Terrapins?" She steps away from the turtle and moves back to stand in front of her friend, turning to face them again.

"There, see?" Red gestures at them. "They're looking at us like we're freaks." He points a big accusing finger at them. "I bet that's why you took our picture, wasn't it? Show your friends?"

Spike shakes her head. "We didn't take your picture, we're not _stupid._"

April laughs nervously.

Spike rolls her eyes up and turns to face April. "You didn't."

"I did," April says guiltily.

Spike smacks her forehead. "Have you lost your mind?!"

Orange waves his hand. "Dude, that's a good thing! Maybe she has hot friends!"

April frowns and feels in her pockets. "Yeah, my….my phone, Spike," she whispers. "Where is it?"

Red steps down off of a box with April's phone, tiny in his large, three-fingered hand. "Lookin' for this?"

April holds out her hand. "Please don't break that."

Spike grabs her arm and lowers it. "Not ours. Haven't seen it before."

April glares at her friend, who shrugs. "I ain't letting you die over a phone."

Blue takes the phone from Red. "How many times do I have to tell you? We don't break things. We fix them. Donnie already wiped the phone, Genius. Problem solved, moving on."

Red shoves Blue's shoulder roughly, knocking him off balance. "Hey, who put you in charge?"

Blue stands his ground. "You know who did." It was a quiet sentence, but stable enough to silence Red for a few seconds.

"Wooooaaaaah," Orange crouches. "Tension. It's been like, thirty whole minutes since you guys last had this argument!"

Purple steps forward. "Leonardo," he addresses Blue. "If we wanna make it home before Master, we gotta hustle."

"Leonardo?" April whispers.

"What?!" Spike turns.

Leonardo leans over to April and hands her the phone. "Do not speak about this to anyone. If you do, we will find you. April O'Neil."

"No problem," Spike answers for April.

Leonardo points at Spike. "You're not out of this either, Sarah Sanchez. You guys live together, you work together, and we will find you together, got it?"

April glances at Spike and holds onto her arm.

Spike straightens her shoulders. "Yeah. We do. And the name's Spike, Blue," Spike adds, unwilling to hear her real name again, or feel the vulnerability that came with it. _Twelve years._

"Whatever." Blue turns and moves away. "We're on the move, Raphael." He walks past Red. "Come on."

"Raphael," April breathes.

"Yeeaaah," Orange says. "We'll find you…O'Neil…..and Sanchez," he adds quickly. He turns and starts walking before turning back. "Sorry, okay that just came off _super creepy_. We will find you though," he adds quickly.

April raises her phone and takes another picture.


	9. Chapter 9

"You took another picture?! Are you nuts?!" Spike howls as they sit inside their apartment, windows doors and windows locked, barricaded, and double checked. Spike still clenches the Taser in her hand. "You heard what Blue said. They'll find us. Then they'll kill us. _Then_ they'll hide the bodies, they'll find us in cement in a few years."

April shakes her head. "We'll be fine. Also, his name isn't Blue. It's Leonardo."

Spike throws her hands in the air. "I don't care if his name is Puff. We're in trouble."

"I took the picture, not you," April reminds her. "They won't kill you."

"I'm with you. They said they'd take me too, I know about them! April," Spike's voice softens. "I promised I'd take care of you. I've done a good job up until now. I'm not gonna let a story get you killed."

April smiles and pats Spike's arm. "I'll be fine. Besides, don't the names Leonardo and Raphael ring a bell?"

"Italian painters. I paid _some _attention in school."

"I know, and yes, they were," April agrees. "But they were more than that. Remember those turtles Dad had?"

"Sure I remember. Way better than hamsters." She pauses. "You're not suggesting that those four Gamera wanna-bees back there were once those little tiny turtles, are you? Because you better have a great explanation for that."

"Well…" April sounds uncertain. "I have to do some research."

"I think this may possibly qualify as a very bad idea." Spike kneels down, still fully dressed and wearing her combat boots. "I don't think we should go after this one, April."

"I gotta find the old video camera!" April throws up her hands before letting them fall. She turns earnestly to Spike. "You've told me and told me and told me that I as meant for better things, bigger stories, and more respect. You don't get those without risks. You were all for it before giant mutant turtles showed up. I have that picture, remember? People might believe us now!"

"They said they'd find us."

"And I know you'll protect me," April said confidently. "Come on!"

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

April's old 'lab notebook' and a notebook labeled "Project Renaissance" sit quietly and innocently on the floor before April pounces on them and attempts to flip through both of them simultaneously. Spike sits down and crosses her arms.

"Aha!" April points to a symbol on one of the pages. "That's the same one we found on the crates at the dock! Remember? The one spray painted onto the crate!"

Spike examines her hand. "Don't know if you're interested, but I found the camera and some tapes."

April drops the notebook and lunges for the device sitting beside her friend. She digs through the tape pile.

"I already put in one." Spike grabs April's arm. "Look." She holds up the camera.

_"__Good evening,"_ six year old April's voice comes through. _"This is April O'Neil, recording live from my dad's lab. I know it sounds pretty boring, but actually, there's some pretty cool stuff."_

Spike's voice from off camera called. _"April! Raphael is tugging on my hair again!"_

The camera swiveled slightly as April turned. _"Well, just tug it back!"_

_"__Every time I do, he bites me."_

The camera turned back to April.

_ "__Time to put the camera away, April,"_ a voice called.

_"__Awww, Dad."_

April laughs sadly at the sound of her father's voice.

Spike wraps her arm around April's shoulder.

"I'm fine," April says unconvincingly. She slides in another tape.

_"__Now, I'm about to show you something amazing…it's supposed to be from a different planet in outer space! Mr. Sacks, what sort of experiments are you doing?"_

_"__That's a complicated question."_ Eric Sack's voice sounded amused as he explained the concepts to a six year old. _"We're trying to change the world."_  
Four little baby box turtles squirm as the scientists poke and prod. The camera shakes.

_"__Hello, Splinter,"_ The camera focused on a little rat in the case. _"And these are my little turtles." _

_"__OUR turtles,"_ Spike argued. _"You said we could share."_

_"__**Our **__turtles," _April allowed. The camera panned to the second case. _"Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello. The fans wanna see you."_

One of the turtles smacks against the glass and cracks it in an incredible show of strength for such a tiny animal.

April gasps. "I knew it!"

"No way, it can't be," Spike utters. "What all were they _injectin' _those suckers with?!"

"The vigilante," April continues. "We saw it, we saw _them!_ I saw them! I've known them ever since I was a little girl, they were my pets!" She glances at Spike, beaming. "They were our childhood pets, and they were named after Italian Renaissance painters!"

"Wait, so Raphael, that's the one that smashed me," Spike says. "And he used to bite me and all. Stupid turtle is still hurting me after fifteen years." The bruise on her belly and ribs had been more of a case of wounded pride than actual pain.

"Oh...that doesn't matter! This is fantastic! What a story!" April runs out to the dining room with some of the notebooks.

"It matters to me!" Spike calls, still on the floor. She sighs and sits back. "So, Raphael thinks because he's bigger than me now, he can smack me around. I don't believe this."


	10. Chapter 10

Spike's eyes crack open late next morning, as she lay sprawled out on her bed, still in her jeans and _Star Trek_ t-shirt.

_Maybe it was a nightmare,_ she thinks groggily before sitting up. She staggers to the unbearably bright kitchen and sits down on one of the chairs by the counter, adjusting her socks. "April?"

No answer.

"April?!" Spike sits up straighter. "April!" She clambers off the chair and glances around, dashing into the living room, the adrenaline waking her up better than any cup of coffee.

"It couldn't have been the turtles, they would have taken me too…unless she's bait for a trap or something…..wait." She pulls out her cellphone and dials April's number somewhat frantically. It rings, once, twice, three times, four….

Spike bites on her knuckles, almost drawing blood by the sixth ring, when at last April picks up the phone.

Spike rips her knuckles away from her mouth. "Where the blazes are you?"

"I'm at Channel 6 headquarters." April's tone is curt, irritated. "And you're interrupting. I'll be back soon."

*_Click*_

Spike smacks her phone down. "Is she insane? She's going to get herself killed!" The only reason she'd go to Channel 6 was to report her findings, and the picture of the turtles from the night before. This was going to get onto the news, and then they were going to be found out, and something violent would happen, she could feel it in her bones.

Something occurs to Spike as she chews through a slice of toast and a poptart. The turtles carried weapons, but not guns. They had swords, and nunchucks, ancient ninja weapons.

Maybe the footing wasn't quite so uneven then.

Spike stands and bolts back to her room, hauling a heavy box out from under the bed, with the label: _Dad's Collection _scribbled onto the side.

Ian Sanchez was a collector of many things, and one of those things was weaponry, _ancient _weaponry. Slice and dice, smash and crash weapons. After his death, the collection, and all of his and Christina's belongings had been passed down to the last surviving member of the family: Their eldest daughter.

Spike hadn't touched the box in years, but she had good reason to now. This would be their line of defense. She pawed carefully through the wrapped blades and blunt objects, before she found the best of both worlds.

**_~Shell Shocked~_**

Spike looked down at the organized interior of her father's box contentedly, patting the handles of a mace and a battle flail, hooked onto her belt. She glances at her watch and pulls out her phone again to contact April. This time, the phone only rings three times. "Where are you now?"

"I'm on the way back from Eric Sack's estate," April sounds tired.

"I thought you were at work," Spike says nervously. "What are you doing at Sacks's place?"

"I was at work." April's voice is flat. "I was fired."

"You told Thompson about the turtles, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah, it was for my story!"

A hint of anger creeps into Spike's tone. "Well, I hope you're happy, now that you don't have a job! April, think about it! _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?!_ That sounds like a bad TV series or comic book franchise. Who'd believe _that _unless they'd seen it?"

April sighs. "I know, but…I needed to satisfy my own curiosity too. Thompson will have to hire me back when she sees what I'll have put together. So I talked to Eric Sacks, and I told Vern, even if he doesn't believe me."

"You told Sacks and _Vern?_"

"Who do you think drove me? Don't worry, _Mom, _I'll be home soon."

_*Click*_

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

April slams the door to the apartment closed with eyes full of fury. "You don't have to keep checking up on me!"

"April, I told you and your mother that I'd take care of you," Spike growls from the couch. "You're all I've got! And now you're in danger."

"We both are."

"I know, but I'm not telling. For the sake of a story, you've put yourself at risk, told others something that we were expressly forbidden to tell, after being captured by the Foot Clan. It's been a weird few days, and all that for a job we don't even have anymore."

"We don't even have it anymore?" April repeats.

Spike picks her head up. "Yeah. I guess I'll try where you get your next one. I'll stick close to you, especially now that we're probably being hunted by a bunch of big, mad, turtles."

April cracks a smile at last. "Are you going to want to hear what I learned from Sacks, or no?"

"It won't kill us any more than a sword will, I suppose," Spike says dismally.

April chuckles, then freezes as she glances at Spike's belt. "Is that a…" she gestures.

"A mace, yes it is."

"Why?" April asks cautiously.

"Well, we may go down, in the end, but I intend to go down swingin'. I'll land a few hits before they take me down, that I swear."


	11. Chapter 11

"Wait, so, your dad, and Eric Sacks made these things, or mutated 'em, because they were inventing and testing a _wonder cure?!_" Spike summarizes in disbelief.

"Yes," April nods. "That's it exactly. You've got it." She slides to her laptop, turning it on. "It's pretty unbelievable."

"What're you doing now? Blogging about them?" Spike asks suspiciously.

"No!" April looks reproachfully up at Spike. "I'm not dumb. I'm looking up vigilante activity in New York."

"Why? We're fired!"

There is a static noise from the computer, and the screen fizzles.

"Uh-oh, tech trouble," April groans.

A familiar voice immediately crackles through. "Bam! You've been hacked, by Donatello! Remember me? Turtle, four eyes? But enough about me. We told you we'd find you. Meet us here." An address pops up on the screen. "Come alone. Well…bring Sarah. Nobody else. Or … or else we'll…we'll…you'll be punished, and stuff."

The screen goes back to normal.

"I told you so," Spike says grimly. "They're gonna kill us."

"They're not gonna kill us," April says, standing up. "You're paranoid."

"It's New York, of course I'm paranoid. Even if it weren't, being told to come alone to a rooftop in the dark is never a good sign."

"Don't you believe they're on our side?"

"I believe they don't like the Foot clan, but who does?" Spike asks. "They told us not to spill their secret, now that we have, they're gonna put us six feet under."

"You're coming, of course?" April sighs, putting her hands on her hips.

Spike stands, gripping the handle of her mace, a large hefty stick with a spiked iron ball at the end. "Oh yeah."

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

Fifteen minutes later, April and Spike glance around the rooftop at the address that the turtle had given. Spike hefts the mace again with courage that she half fakes.

April gives her a look. "Way to instill trust."

"They're the ones who told us to meet them on a roof by ourselves," Spike says firmly. "They're askin' for it. That doesn't sound at all scary or anything." Sarcasm drips off of her voice, then drops. "Spike Sanchez and April O'Neil: Bit the big one for believing ninja mutant turtle teenagers that throw shipping crates."

April rolls her eyes before calling out. "Hello? You told us to come here. We didn't bring anybody, just like you said!"

"Sure, let 'em know good and loud," Spike grumbles.

The orange masked turtle, the one they can only assume is Michelangelo from footage, jumps down behind April. April spins.

"Get down!" Spike grabs April's arm and pulls her behind her, threateningly raising the mace with her other hand.

"Woah, chill _out, _girl! Are you April O'Neil and Sarah Sanchez?"

"Spike," April says. "Calm down."

"Turn towards me, please, hang on." The turtle with glasses, the one that hacked their computer, Donatello himself turns April to face him, scanning her face with his goggles. He turns to Spike. "Retina; scan complete! It's them! Guys, it's them!"

Leonardo drapes a huge arm around a panicking April's shoulders. "We know it's them, Donnie. Hey, glad you could make it." The friendly tone and words mask a slightly threatening undertone.

"Take your arm off her, Blue," Spike growls, holding up her weapon.

"Or what, you'll take it off?" A deep, growling voice directed out of the shadows reveals the position of turtle no. 4.

"Raphael, right?" Spike asks, turning with a false casual air. "When you kill me, how about just crushing my head nice and easy instead of stabbing me with your little forks there, it'll make me feel a lot better when my heart stops."

Michelangelo taps at the handle of her mace. "Wooooaaaah. Where'd you get this! It's cool, almost as cool as my nunchucks."

Spike glares. "Hands off, Short-Stuff."

Michelangelo raises his hands. "Sorry."

"Knock it off, both of you, if you please." Leonardo calls for order. He turns to April. "There's someone really important we want you two to meet, but first-"

Raphael pulls a bag over Spike's head, and Michelangelo pulls one down over April.


	12. Chapter 12

"I can't believe we let ourselves be suckered like this," Spike mutters as an aside to April. Both women's vision was still obscured.

"I can't believe you guys won't tell me where we are," April says, louder.

"Why would we tell you? This is our fortress of solitude!" Donatello's voice says.

"Our Hogwarts!"

"Our Xavier Academy!"

"Our fully functional, state-of-the-art wonderdome!" Michelangelo's voice says clearly.

"We get it," Spike mutters.

April sniffs. "Are we...in the sewer?"

"Noooo," Michelangelo says nervously.

"Technically yes," Donatello points out.

"Yeah," Michelangelo agrees. "It's the sewer."

The bag rips off of Spike's head and she sucks in a breath as she steadies herself. She takes in the surroundings: A huge room, with televisions and pizza boxes on one end, a weapons rack on the other, one wall covered with radios and CDs, another leading off into a separate room. The oddest thing about the whole thing was the giant rat talking to them from the other side of the room.

"You brought us here, April, Sarah," the rat says in a gentle, wise voice.

"That's Splinter?" Spike whispers, too stunned to say anything about her name.

"Yes," April says, smiling. "Hello, Splinter."

"She knows his name," Donatello gasps.

"Did you tell her his name?" Leonardo asks.

"No!"

"Maybe she's a Jedi," Michelangelo whispers.

The rat ignores the turtles and addresses the humans. "Come closer."

They both obey, with the turtles a few steps behind them.

"It's been a long time," Splinter says, smiling. He studies April's face closely. "You always did have your father's eyes. Innocent, intelligent…." He turns to Spike. "I remember you too, dear." He cocks his head, twitching his nose. "You have grown harsh, and cold. The years have not been kind to you."

"Not much has," Spike says frankly. "It's…surprising to see you again, Splinter."

Splinter chuckles. "I suppose it is, Sarah."

"Spike," she says out of reflex.

"Hmmm?"

"I…..I don't really go by Sarah anymore," Spike says, glancing away.

"A rough name for a rough person," Splinter says quietly. He glances between her and April. "Don't be afraid," he reassures them. "All will be made clear. Listen closely, children. I don't remember a time before living in that laboratory."

As he spoke, the turtles settled down onto their knees to listen as well.

"That fateful night started like any other," Splinter continues. "Sacks gave us our injections. Your father," he indicates April. "Made sure our vital signs were strong. And you girls, as always, made sure we were provided with a special treat. After the brothers went to sleep, I heard loud voices. There was the smell of smoke."  
April squeezes her eyes shut.

"Alarms sounded," Splinter says softly. "Your father had discovered the truth behind the man he was working for. He set fire to the lab. His last breath was taken trying to destroy the Shredder's plan. He was a hero."

Spike puts her hand on April's shoulder, turning her back to the turtles and hunching over her friend to hide April's teary gaze.

"I was terrified," Splinter continues. "But then you two appeared."

Spike remembers it well. The red orange glow of the lab, scooping two turtles up in both palms, telling April they had to get out of there. Shielding the little reptiles when a glass jar had exploded. Glass shards in her back, one small shard had landed in one of the turtle's legs. She remembers pulling it out gently, rushing two of them to the exit right behind April, telling April everything was okay, being just as scared.

"You two ushered us to safety," Splinter speaks quietly. "I never had a voice then, but I thank you now. Both of you. We wandered the sewers until I found this place. It was then that the mutagen that had been injected into our blood began to change us in miraculous ways." He turns to April again. "I saw how your father loved you, and I knew I had to show that same love to the turtles. I became their father, and they became my sons. Like all children, they were drawn to the distractions of popular culture, and I knew one day they would want to explore the world above them. They would be ridiculed. They would need to learn to protect themselves both mentally and physically."

"And then, I found a way," Splinter declares. "First, I would teach myself the ancient art of Ninjitzu. The brothers followed my lead, accelerating at a wondrous rate. Their gifts were also their passions. They lived, breathed, and dreamed all things martial arts. Then, they were ready. Everything they are, and everything they've become, was made possible by the bravery that you two displayed on that fateful night."

"We were just kids," April says at last. "We were what, seven?"

"You were seven. I was eight."

"It matters not how old you were. You girls gave us freedom where others would have kept us in cages."

Here Leonardo interjects. "Wait a minute Dad. All these years you told us we were rescued from the fire by two great guardian spirits. Hogosha."

"Indeed. And these young ladies _are_ the guardians."

Silence falls as the turtles all stare at the two of them.

Leonardo reaches a decision and slowly and humbly bows at the waist, followed almost immediately by Michelangelo.

"Dude, my girlfriend is totally the Hogosha!" Michelangelo whispers loudly.

Leonardo whacks his arm as Donatello bows too. Raphael crosses his arms.

Spike shakes her head. "Guys, nah, don't do that, it makes me awkward. We aren't nothing special."

April turns to Splinter at last with a very good question.

"Why did you bring us here?"


	13. Chapter 13

The answer was simple.

"To find out who you told about our existence," Splinter replies. Spike turns pale and looks at April.

"Nobody that believed me…" April trails off. "Except for Eric Sacks."

Spike chokes.

Splinter gasps and rises. "Sacks. Just as I feared. Sacks is not a friend," he tells April. "His soul has been poisoned, by the influence of a dark master. The Shredder. Shredder practically raised Sacks in Japan. He's like a father to him. Sacks will do anything for his master."

"Wait, wait," Raphael breaks in. "Sacks and Shredder? Then why aren't we out there huntin' them down?"

"Because, Raphael, the Shredder is a skilled warrior whose cruelty is ever reaching," Splinter explains. "And you are just teenagers. The mutagen in your blood is of great value to them, and now that Sacks has confirmation that you are alive, I think they will bring the fight to us."

April frantically pulls something out of her jacket and looks at it in horror. Spike rises, looking at April with worry. "April, what's up?" she asks with a hard edge to her voice.

"Oh no," April says. "I took his card!"

Spike grabs it. "It has a tracker?! Get rid of it!"

"How?" April demands.

Spike crushes it as sirens begin going off.

"Perimeter breach," Donatello cries, sprinting to his computer. "We have incoming!"

Spike reaches for the cool metal of her mace.

"Oh no, oh no," Donatello's frantic voice shouts louder than any siren. "We've got two breaches, fan room and weapons wall!"

Spike faces a numb April. "Come on, move!"

An explosion goes off, and she and April drop to the ground as her heart beats in her ears.

As the dust settles, Splinter steps up, unarmed, as Foot soldiers stream into the lair. Instead of retreating, the mutant rat takes them head on, leaving a trail of downed soldiers in his wake.

Spike and April crawl to the wall as darts embed into the wall behind where Leonardo and Donatello were blown by the blast. The turtles begin to stand.

"They've got tranq darts," Donatello informs Leonardo.

"Well then don't let them hit your skin," Leonardo tells him.

Spike blinks dust from her eyes and attempts to reclaim her senses. The noise seems deafening, blocking out all coherent thought. The movement and action coming from Splinter is distracting enough as the old rat master kicks, spins and snaps around in fluid motions that take the Foot soldiers out easily.

"We've got a breach in the fan room," Donatello calls in a nervous voice.

Leonardo turns to Raphael. "Get to the fan room," he instructs.

"Why're you always tellin' me what to _do_?!" Raphael punches a soldier, fist moving above Leonardo's head.

"Just go!" Leonardo shouts, and turns. "Mikey! You gotta get April and Spike outta here. Now!"

Spike rolls to her side and swings out with the mace, clubbing a soldier in the knee. The man yelps, goes down to his hands and knees. He looks up, and aims a gun between Spike's eyes.

Spike panics and swings the mace again.

_Crunch_

Spike turns April's face away from the puddle of blood and the fallen soldier. She grabs the gun as Michelangelo crouches beside them.

"Come with me, I got a safe place for you!" His eyes fall on the soldier, and he turns greener than normal. "Ew, did you do that?"

Spike turns, and in the dark, and with the sweat and dirt and specks of blood on her face, she looks wild for a minute. She aims the gun at an approaching soldier and squeezes the trigger, looking disappointed as a tranq dart smacks into the man's leg. He drops to the ground.

"Come on!" Michelangelo says, leading them behind the counter in the kitchen area. "I gotta safe place for you to hide, and if you get thirsty, there's a secret stash of orange Crush soda behind the fridge! Don't tell Raph."

The fighting stops as a new player enters the ring.

Big enough to make even Raphael look small, with armor appearing invulnerable at any spot, an imposing figure with bladed gauntlets steps through the gap in the wall the explosion caused and into the chaotic room in the sewers.

"It's a Swiss army knife," Spike says in disbelief.

Splinter has no difficulty with this newcomer's identity. "Shredder."

"All these years, I tried to recreate the mutagen," Shredder says menacingly, in a deep voice filtered through a metal mask. "And you, you just handed it to me."

Splinter steps up to face this new terrifying threat. "You will not lay a hand on my sons," he informs the Shredder firmly. He takes up a sword and starts to move as Shredder laughs, a mocking, disbelieving, confident laugh that usually means trouble.


	14. Chapter 14

Splinter holds his sword aloft as the Shredder towers over him.

"Your _sons_?" Shredder scoffs. "You think you are their father?" Knives begin unsheathing from his armored arms, hidden away in pockets. He strikes, quickly and to the point, as Splinter parries and avoids blow after blow, somersaulting out of the way.

Shredder pulls back. "Very good," he concedes. "Rat."

Spike studies April's face, trying to pretend they're okay, like none of this is happening. "You're okay, got it? You're not going to be hurt, I promise."

A bellow that could have come only from Raphael's throat echoes down from rooms away, before a rumbling, tumbling noise cuts it off.

April clutches at Spike's jacket. "Wh-wha-wha…what was that?"

Spike doesn't answer as fear, true, actual fear, turns her blood to ice.

Splinter begins to attack the Shredder, and the human must now go on the defensive, throwing knife after knife at the rat, who somehow manages to remain unharmed, dodging every blade. In frustration, Shredder leaps after Splinter, sending a spinning kick into his side that the rat dodges, and then returns, slashing at him.

The human at last stumbles back, before sending an impossible barrage of blades towards the mutant, who leaps up, grabbing a hold of some of the ropes hanging from the ceiling of the room that were ordinarily used for training. The rat swings over Shredder's head.

Splinter leaps on top of his adversary, sword pointed down at the facemask, as he and Shredder engage in a war of wills as much as strength as Splinter attempts to drive the blade home, between two of the slits in the facemask.

The man shoves the mutant off of him, and throws him to the ground.

Spike feels incredibly sick as Leonardo's voice rings out: "Sensei!" A heartbreaking sound, the sound of a son discovering something happening to their father. Leonardo immediately heads to his master's aid, until stopped by the Foot soldiers, who have gone to the direct approach: attacking their foes with cattle prods. Leonardo stops, fighting the pain of electrical volts coursing through his body.

Spike winces, looks back at April, and stays put, trying to block out Leonardo's shouts.

"Hang on, Leo," Donatello calls, deflecting bullets and darts with lightning-quick spinning of his metal staff. "I'll be right there!"

Shredder brings his leg back and brutally kicks Splinter in the stomach, causing the rat to roll over a few feet. The human lifts him, and smashes him back to the ground.

"We gotta do something," April says in a small voice.

Spike glances at her. "Yeah. Let's go."

April stands, grabbing a disproportionately huge sai that hung on the wall behind her.

Spike refuses to look at the weapon as her gut wrenches, remembering the horrible shout before they lost all contact with Raphael. She raises her mace and looks at April, who nods.

April dashes around the counter, and Spike leaps over the top of it, holding the mace up as April plunges the sai into a power pack on the Shredder's armor.

Shredder grunts, irritated and enraged at the interruption of the execution of the mutant rat. He turns, in time to get Spike's might, challenged through the head of the mace, slammed into his side.

April falls back, behind Spike as Shredder turns completely. "You stupid little girls," he snarls.

Spike holds the mace up, shaking uncontrollably.

"April! Sarah!" Splinter cries. "Go!"

Spike shoves April back to the far wall. "Go, April!"

April runs, then hides in the debris, watching her friend. Spike backs up slowly, following her as Leonardo pushes the Foot soldiers away at last, rising to his full height again.

Spike tackles April, who has begun to rise again, keeping her down on the ground.

"Stay put," Spike hisses.

Leonardo breaks into a dead run as Shredder, only mildly inconvenienced, turns back to attempting to kill Splinter.

"Sensei!"

"No, my son, stay back!" Splinter calls. He reaches up weakly and flicks a switch that keeps a grate from falling in between the rooms. It crashes down, separating his sons from him.

Leonardo desperately slashes at the unyielding bars with his swords.

Michelangelo turns and gasps. "Sensei!" Then he too, is running, heading for the grate keeping him and his brothers from his fallen master. Donatello is there too, hammering at the bars in a panic. Raphael remains unaccounted for.

"Sensei, Dad, Dad! What are you doing?!" Leonardo calls frantically.

Splinter looks at him through the grate. "Run! Hide!" he cries as the Shredder comes for him again.

"NO!" Leonardo shouts as Shredder drags Splinter away.

"Save yourselves!" Splinter cries.

Shredder throws Splinter as April gasps and Donatello shouts, as the three brothers try to lift the grate.

Shredder tosses Splinter into the air and punches him.

The grate goes up and the turtles run in, weapons held high.

Spike is frozen at April's side, shuddering with terror as Splinter's words echo through her head.

_Everything they are, and everything they've become, was made possible by the bravery that you two displayed on that fateful night._

_I'm not brave. I'm scared. _

Spike desperately gathers her scattered wits and berates herself mentally.

Shredder holds the battered rat out to show the turtles.

"Children, drop your weapons, or your…father…will die," Shredder says in an extremely condescending voice.

All three turtles stop. Donatello and Michelangelo look to their leader as Leonardo drops his sword. The other two throw down their weapons, eyes locked on the rat that raised them.

Shredder delivers one last punch to Splinter before letting him go. The mutant hits the ground heavily while the Foot clan surround the turtles and apply the cattle prods.

_Cowards! _Spike wants to scream.

Splinter lies still on the ground as the turtles start to drop, one by one.

Shredder's voice is curious. "Where is the fourth?"

_Raphael._

A Foot solider answers him indifferently. "He's dead."


	15. Chapter 15

"Destroy this place." Shredder turns and leaves, cold blooded as he came.

April kneels beside her shell-shocked friend and wraps an arm around her shoulders as the first of the explosions begin.

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

Within minutes, the Foot clears out, and the women emerge from the rubble. April heads for the fallen rat in the center of the room as Spike heads for the passage leading off to where Donatello said the fan room was.

"Where are you going?" April asks. "Splinter needs us. You're not going to just leave him, are you?"

"They took three turtles," Spike says. "There are four."

"Spike…..Raphael's dead," April murmurs sorrowfully. "I'm sorry, but…"

"Then I'll make sure he gets a burial fit for someone who went down fighting." She whips away, ponytail following her as she stalks down the hallway, furiously wiping at her eyes. "Unlike some of us cowards."

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

Spike trips over a loose rock and stumbles into a huge stack of rubble, still settling. Beyond it, was practically nothing. A wall collapsed here. The fan remains behind it.

Spike's eyes, irritated by the dust, of course, begin to burn as she rips stones out of the pile, even heaving rocks half her size to the side. As she digs, her fingers glide against something scaly.

She freezes, before fresh energy allows her to dig down, grab the edges of a large rock, and begin to yank before a sharp pain dashes through from her forearm to her wrist and elbow.

"_Son _of a _gun,_" she hollers, falling backwards, studying huge tooth marks in her arm.

Raphael rises slowly, rocks cascading off of him like water.

"I'm sick of being your chew toy! Fifteen years ago, you bit and bit and bit and now I try to help and you bite me _again_."

"Lay off, will you? I thought you were the Foot! How was I supposed to know you weren't? And I don't remember biting you fifteen years ago, I was what, three?!"

Spike glares up at him. Her chest heaves. "Splinter is hurt," she grits with difficulty. "I suggest we go do something about it."

Raphael's entire demeanor changes and he breaks into a run, with Spike dashing after him.

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

April heaves at a huge chunk of stone on top of the fallen rat. Raphael enters the room at a run before dropping to his knees and throwing the block like it was nothing.

Spike drops down next to them, breathing more steadily now.

"Sensei!" Raphael urgently calls. "Master!" He hurls another huge block, emotion twisting his features. No response. "Let's get him to the other room." He seems to be talking to himself, but his eyes flicker to April's for a second, then to Spike's before lifting Splinter and carrying him into the next room. "Get the med kit," he instructs. April runs over to the crowded wall and starts searching. "On the shelf!"

April runs it over. Raphael nods. "Alright…alright…"

In moments, Splinter regains consciousness and recognizes his son. "Raphael?"

"I'm here," the turtle assures his master.

"You must save your brothers," Splinter says weakly. "Stop Shredder." His head falls back, and he almost falls unconscious again.

"Sensei," Raphael says quietly. Alarms start going off, and April heads for the main room, where Donatello's computers are going nuts.

"Some kind of tracker," April reports.

"It's Donatello."

"Go, Raphael," Splinter tells his second oldest son.

Raphael turns, his green eyes glinting. "Let's go save my brothers!" He stands and heads towards his brother's fallen weapons and begins to gather them.

Spike turns to Splinter, eyes continuing to itch and burn as the screams of a desperate, dejected child for their parent echo in her ears. She puts her hand on his paw. "I swear to you, on my life, your sons will come back to you safely. I saved 'em once, I can do it again. I promise, you'll have them again." Her voice shakes.

Splinter nods. "Be brave, Sarah. I know you can be. Help April, and Raphael."

Spike chokes on her words. "Alright, I will, don't worry, just don't….don't…." _Die._

His eyes close and she frantically feels for a pulse. "Just unconscious," she assures herself. "That's all."

"We need a ride," April says, bringing out her phone. "I'll get Vern."


	16. Chapter 16

"Look, Vern, I need you to meet me," April says with her hand over her other ear.

"In ten minutes, please," April says quickly. "I can't talk to you about it over the phone, just promise to be there." She hangs up. "Well guys, let's go."

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

In an alley a few streets away, April approaches Vern, who is leaning against the news van wearing a fedora.

"What's with the hat?"

"What _is_ with the- I don't know, I was playing around, it's a goof," Vern says as April gets into the passenger seat of the white van. "What do you wanna do? Head downtown?"

"Eric Sacks is at the head of the Foot Clan, he just kidnapped the vigilante turtles and took them to his estate, and we have to go, come on Vern!" April fills him in quickly, slapping the dashboard.

Vern hasn't gotten in the van yet. "Right, right, right. The turtles. I forgot. This is kind of embarrassing. We're both consenting adults," he gets in the van, "Both very good looking, you're better, probably, that's up for debate. The point is we don't need to make up excuses to hang out with each other."

"What?" April asks.

"You wanna spend more time with me, I get it, I would too, but the point is-"

"We need to get to the Sacks Estate right now, Vern, drive!" April exclaims.

"That's what I'm talking about! The Sacks Estate with the vigilante-"

Spike leans up from the backseat and slides Vern into a headlock. Raphael's big green head slams up in between the seats and turns to look at Vern.

"Drive," he rumbles firmly.

Vern looks like he swallowed his own tongue. "I…You're a talking turtle," Vern says, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a talking turtle," Raphael agrees impatiently. "And you're a human nerd. Now that we got that out of the way, hit it!"

His head disappears again into the back of the van, and Spike's arm disappears with him.

April cocks her head as Spike gives a short bark of laughter, the first pleased noise she's made in days. "You heard the turtle, hit it!"

Vern puts the keys in the ignition. "I've been called a nerd before, but...How did you get in the back?"

"He used the door," Spike's voice comes out of the darkness, and you'd never know she'd laughed.

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

"I thought about becoming a ninja," Vern continues his thirty minute monologue. "I was doing a bunch of yoga for like, ten days."

Spike smacks her head into the side of the van while Raphael rolls his eyes, chewing on a toothpick.

April speaks up at last. "There's the gate."

"There it is," Vern agrees. Spike rises to a crouch and looks out, moving to the side as Raphael peers out the windshield.

"Ram the gate," Raphael orders. Vern starts to protest. "Ram the gate!"

"This is Channel 6 property," Vern argues.

"I SAID RAM THE GATE," Raphael shouts, bringing his head back up between the seats. He slams his hand into the headrest.

"Fenwick, I think he wants you to ram the gate," Spike utters darkly.

"Sanchez, you got weird friends. Alright, everybody strap in," Vern calls as he slams on the gas.

Spike braces against the wall.

Not hard enough. April and Vern jolt forward as Spike slams stomach first into the side of Raphael's shell.

She opens her mouth, but no noise comes out. She sucks air in, bracing herself against the doors at the back and Raphael's shell trying to suck air back in. She pushes herself back and braces herself again as Vern tries to right the van as the Foot soldiers in the first yard begin firing. Bullets rip through the windshield and side of the van. April and Vern duck, and the van keeps going, smashing through another door before Vern backs up until they're in the courtyard again. There the poor abused van sits.

"Move it, sister, or you're gonna get hurt." Raphael pushes Spike to the back of the van and rips through the side like it's paper. It takes him all of five seconds to disarm and knock out a Foot soldier.

As he turns to face another one, something hits him in the chest, then the back, and he falls over, a little blood seeping through the uniform.

Spike withdraws the mace before savagely kicking in another soldier's kneecaps, then smashing him in the face with the blunt handle of her mace.

"What are you doing?!" Raphael demands.

Spike turns as if the emotion's turned off. "I promised Splinter I'd save your brothers. I never break a promise."

"Why would you promise that?! Raphael reaches behind her and twists a soldier's arm, flipping him over her head and slamming the hapless soldier to the ground between them. "That's stupid. It's _my _family, and it's too dangerous. Get back in the van."

"Not on your life. One of us needs a family." She draws her arm back and heaves the mace over Raphael's shoulder. Stunned, the turtle turns around to see the mace beside the struck target: A foot solider attempting a sneak attack. "You're welcome."

Raphael shakes his head. "You're nuts."

"I'm a New Yorker. Of course I'm nuts."

Raphael yanks open the door to the van. "Follow me."

April and Vern run into the building behind Raphael, while Spike brings up the rear, holding on to what bravado she has that conveys bravery.

She promised Splinter, and what she told Raphael was true. She _never _broke a promise.


	17. Chapter 17

In the moments it took to progress through the security, Spike had learned to become accustomed to the dreaded _teamwork._ Usually the Channel 6 bouncer, now she had to pick through the leftovers after Raphael took out the main threat.

She did like one thing she had now that she hadn't had often before: the blood pumping and rushing feeling.

Raphael stops short at the top of a staircase, and Spike runs nose-first into the back of his duct-taped shell.

"Ouch," she hisses.

Raphael throws a Foot soldier over his shoulder absently, and Spike makes short work of him, ignoring the blood stains on her clothes by now. Some was hers, but most of it wasn't, and that was what mattered.

"Why'd we stop?" April asks.

Spike peers around the massive shell blocking her way, and understands. "Found 'em."

Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo are each imprisoned in cages, made of stronger stuff than glass. They glance up sluggishly, weakened by the tubes in each arm with steady blood running out of each reptile and into a container hooked up on a desk.

_What did Sacks do to them?_

"Leo!" Raph shouts.

Leonardo barely responds.

Raphael freezes, almost unable to come to grips with the shock. Spike shoulders past him. "Everyone okay?"

"We're alive," Donatello says weakly. "Barely."

Raphael takes a few hurried steps closer to the containment cells.

"'Bout time," Michelangelo sighs.

Raphael runs into the transparent front of Leonardo's cell and bounces off, no damage done. He frowns and draws his sais.

"Raphael," a voice says coolly. The voice sends chills down Spike's spine and she turns to Vern.

"Take April, get down to a lower level for a while," she whispers.

"What? Why?"

Spike grabs his collar. "_Listen to me. Take April, and move her to a lower level._" Her baritone range voice dips into a menacing bass, an apt companion to the blood on her face. "**_Now._**"

"Yes ma'am."

"Glad you can join us," Mr. Mystery Voice continues.

Or….not really. It's the Shredder.

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

Spike grips the mace tightly, but a glancing blow from a casually hurled blade knocks it out of her hands. "Oh, come on," she mutters. She reaches for the battle flail instead. _I wish I had my Taser._

"The fourth cage is for you," Shredder tells Raphael, brandishing his weapons.

Raphael slides into a defensive stance and charges Shredder, who pushes him back and then throws him over a banister and down a floor

Spike turns, watching them go.

"That's harsh, man," Michelangelo groans. Shredder jumps after Raphael, ignoring Spike altogether.

April and Vern re-enter. "I take it it's safe _now?!_" April snaps.

"I was saving your life." Spike points. "Turtles there." She points down the staircase to the bottom floor. "Shredder's down there, kickin' Red to a pulp, and I gotta go make sure he don't hurt him too bad. I'll see if I can distract Shredder long enough for you to get out of here."

"What about you?" April asks.

Spike shrugs and holds up her battle flail. "Well, accidents happen sometimes. We'll see."

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

Spike's landings lack the skill and grace of every one of the turtles, but land she did, and unhurt.

"The rat did NOT teach you well," Shredder bellows, kicking Raphael over another few feet.

Unwilling to watch another curb-stomp, Spike raises her battle flail and gives it an experimental swing. "Yeah well, give him a break, he's only a teen," she shouts.

Shredder spins around and focuses on her. "You are brave, child. Foolish, but brave."

Not exactly true. She isn't brave, but she isn't really afraid.

Raphael gets back up and dives for Shredder as his attention is drawn, grabbing ahold of his leg. "Get out of here!" he shouts at Spike.

"Not a chance," she calls, moving forward. She grabs her weapon handle with both hands and swings it, smashing into Shredder's side. Shredder, balance already compromised by the 400 pound turtle weighing him down, swings a punch at Spike, who manages to dodge most of it, but receives a long gash up her arm, through the fabric of her jacket. She grimaces as the blood starts to run down her arm, dropping the flail with one hand to assess the damage.

Shredder kicks Raphael off and stomps on him before turning to Spike. She has his attention _now._ "You wish to fight? We will fight. It will be over quickly, but at least you will die honorably. More than I can say for the rat."

Raphael turns over onto his side, shaking his head as rage takes over.

Spike frowns, and her eyes turn cold and hard. Emotionless eyes. Eyes of a person who had nothing to lose anymore.

Eyes of a person who lose all fear to defend those they care about.

Shredder stalks towards Spike, raising his fist. Spike throws her battle-flail chain up, blocking the blow. Her shoulder wrenches backward, and Spike cries out briefly as she feels the familiar sensation of having a dislocated shoulder.

She swaps hands and smashes the flail head into the side of the Shredder's mask. He grunts and turns his head as Raphael starts to get up.

The ninja master turns, and with a ferocious blow, knocks Raphael back onto his plastron. He steps on the turtle's shell and presses.

_Crack!_

Spike gasps as a hairline crack appears in Raphael's shell, and slams the battle-flail into the Shredder's back in a slightly idiotic attempt at rescue. _There's gotta be a weakness __**somewhere.**_

Shredder sighs, and bats her aside, to the floor. He turns. "Puny child," he scoffs. "You are merely delaying the inevitable. After I kill you, and him," he nods at Raphael. "What is to stop me from draining the blood, and the precious mutagen, out of the others?" He casually kicks her in the stomach, sending her rolling across the floor. She grimaces as she rolls onto her dislocated shoulder, tries to push back up, collapses again.

"You cannot stop me," Shredder continues. "I will break you here and now."

On the level up, in the laboratory, glass shatters. Shredder turns. "What?!"

"I cannot stop you," Spike gasps, sucking in air. "But they can."

Shredder kicks her in the ribs, one last, halfhearted time, before striding away.

_If so powerful you are, why run?_

Raphael rolls over. "That was a stupid thing to do," he whispers hoarsely.

"You're alive, aren't you? You owe me one." She grimaces, and then loses consciousness.


	18. Chapter 18

"Sarah!"

_Funny, that sounds like Blue….ah, Leonardo._

"Spike!"

_And __**that **__sounds like April._

"Oh no, Spike, are you okay?"

Spike cracks open her eyes as April fills her vision, on her knees in front of her, trying to study the damage. "You look like you got hit by a truck!"

"You're not wrong," Spike groans. "The guys….they….?"

"We're right here!" Donatello shouts from behind her as he and Michelangelo help Raphael stand. "We're here!"

"We feel great!" Michelangelo bubbles. "Don't you?"

Spike turns and raises an eyebrow as a fresh streak of blood spurts from her wounded arm. She raises her good arm and wipes sweat off of her forehead, swaying slightly. "I'm fine. What happened?"

"Pumped them full of adrenaline," Vern explains. "Works like a dream."

"Let's go!" Leonardo cries, attempting to get Raphael to look more like he hadn't had his shell handed to him.

"Go where?" Raphael asks, trying to get his breath back.

"Sacks Tower!" Leonardo answers, picking his swords out of Raphael's belt.

"New York City," Michelangelo shouts.

"Shredder's going to release a toxin," Donatello explains, grabbing his bo staff.

"That'll poison the whole city," Michelangelo hollers, picking up his nunchucks.

"And Sacks is going to sell the antidote!"

"Made from the mutagen in our blood! So we gotta get going now!" Donatello exclaims.

"Good. Let's do it for Sensei," Raphael says grimly.

"We're going! Everybody stay calm! LOOK HOW CALM I AM!" Michelangelo shrieks, bringing up the rear.

"Come on, guys," Leonardo calls to the humans. "We're headed for the city!"

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

Leonardo, almost odd looking in the bright sun, points up to the clear, blue sky as Sacks makes his escape with the canister of mutagen in a helicopter. "We gotta move! Let's go!"

"Sacks is airborne!" Raphael yells.

"He'll be in Manhattan in 19 minutes," Donatello calculates.

"Get us out of here, Donnie!"

Donatello pulls his goggles down over his glasses and examines the terrain, noticing the Foot soldier aiming the gun.

"Oh my gosh, they have GUNS," he squeaks.

"Great." Spike sticks her battle flail in her belt. "Let's get some."

The Foot clan opens fire.

"Everybody get down!" Leonardo shouts, crouching with his shell out. He, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo form a wall in front of the humans, shells to the Foot, panicking as the bullets fly.

The turtles freeze after a moment of shooting, with no ill effect on them.

"Ha! Are you guys okay?" Leonardo asks, straightening up, grinning.

"We're bulletproof," Raphael breathes.

"Sweet!" Leonardo crows.

"Can you drive that truck?" Raphael asks Vern, indicating the semi a few yards behind them.

"Uh, yeah."

Raphael steps backwards, grabbing a Foot soldier's gun and smashing him on the head with it, knocking him down.

Leonardo lashes next, kicking their adversaries into the dust as Michelangelo jumps on top of the truck. Donatello flips his metal staff blindingly fast, leaving fallen enemies in his wake.

Spike grabs a pistol off of a downed soldier, grimacing as she clambers into the back of the semi. Vern climbs in the front, and April into the passenger side to help navigate.

"Everybody in the truck! Move it, go, go, go!" Leonardo shouts.

The truck starts after a brief, but fruitful hunt for the keys as Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello climb in the back. Michelangelo settles on top.

Donatello touches Spike's arm. "You're wounded!"

"I'm fine," she says tersely.

"Liar," he accuses, adjusting his glasses.

"Come on, come on!" Raphael yells towards the cab area as the truck slowly begins to move.

"Just what I need, a backseat-driving-talking-turtle," Vern grumbles.

"_Just floor the bloody thing,_" Spike growls. She clutches her dislocated arm with her blood covered hand.

"We're clear of the estate, it should be smoother sailing from here on out," April reports.

Which goes to show how much anyone knows about what's going to happen next.


	19. Chapter 19

"Shouldn't have doubted you. I'm sorry I didn't stick up for you," Vern apologizes to April. "I can't believe you're not crazy! How crazy is that?"

"Here we go, guys!" Michelangelo's voice calls from the roof. "The Foot are back!"

"Can this crate go any faster?" Spike shouts.

"Not really! It's a semi, it's not supposed to be fast, especially downhill in the snow!"

"Donnie, what's the fastest way back to Manhattan?" Leonardo asks.

"We need to stay on this road," Donatello says, looking up from his wrist computer. "There's a maintenance hatch at the bottom of this hill that leads to the sewers pipelines!"

"Oh no," Michelangelo says from the roof.

"Oh no what?" Spike asks.

Her question is answered by an explosion on the road in front of them. The truck swerves ato avoid it, and Spike finds herself against the side of the truck, squashed between the wall and Raphael's shell. Michelangelo almost falls off the roof.

Leonardo, without any traction or anything to hold on to, falls out of the open back of the truck.

"LEO!" Donatello shouts.

Leonardo hits a tree, and then falls back down on a snow covered rock, staring back after the truck, which swivels on the downhill slope that ends directly in front of them in a steep descent. The vehicle's back end half-hangs off of the sharp drop.

"Vern, go, go, go, go!" April shouts.

The truck starts to slide backward.

"Hit the brakes!"

"Wrong way!" Vern shouts.

"Leo, MOVE!" Donatello shouts to his brother, who is smack in the middle of the truck's intended backwards path. As the truck bears down on him, Leonardo rolls directly under the body of it, remaining unhurt as it passes over, then rolls back out.

"We blew a tire!" Vern shouts.

The truck begins to slide back down the hill, off the road, but still headed for a further jagged drop-off, front first this time. Spike doesn't believe she'll ever hear right again, with all the screaming going on.

"How far off course are we?" Raphael asks Donatello.

"Actually, we're on a bit of a shortcut," Donatello informs him. "But we need to keep going down, straight down!"

Michelangelo swings down over the front of the truck to talk to Vern. "Need to keep going straight!" he gasps out. He leans over to April's side. "What's up, Angelcakes?"

"Now is _not _the time to hit on my friend," Spike snaps as her arm throbs.

Leonardo gets up, beginning to follow the truck at breakneck speed as the Foot, now in Humvees, begin a pursuit. He leaps into the air, and is propelled partially by a bump from the front of the Humvee on his journey downward. It's not a fun ride as Leonardo shell slides down, inches ahead of the vehicles, using his katana swords as basic steering, helping him shove himself in the direction he needs to go to avoid even more pain.

"Guys," Michelangelo calls as a Foot soldier leans out of the Humvee and applies the cattle prod to Leonardo. "Leo's in trouble!"

Raphael assesses the situation. "I'm coming." He turns to Donatello. "My shell's cracked, just tape it up."

Donatello grins briefly. "Tape it yourself! I'll go save Leo." He dives out the back of the truck on a mission.

The wind has since torn half of Spike's hair out of its ponytail, and it whips around as she turns to Raphael. "Fix my shoulder, and I'll tape your shell."

"What?!"

"Push my shoulder back into place!" she shouts. "It's dislocated!"

"You nut, I told you it was a bad idea to go for the Shredder," he grabs her shoulder. "Ready?"

"I told _you, _I'm a New Yorker. Of course I'm-"

_Pop!_

"**_NUTS,_**" Spike grits.

"You alright?" Raphael withdraws his huge hands. "I didn't hurt ya, did I?"

"I'm fine. Gimme the duct tape and I'll have ya good as new."

Donatello pries the cattle prod out of the Foot soldier's hands and throws it back into his chest, freeing Leonardo. He slides to the front of the vehicle and grabs his telescoping staff.

"I always wanted to try this," Donatello says, using the bo as a fulcrum. He pops it, it hits the vehicle's grill, and the entire thing flips over. He gapes, giggles, and snorts in disbelief and excitement. "One car down, three to go!"


	20. Chapter 20

Right before a Foot soldier leans out one of said three remaining vehicles and manages to smack the bespectacled turtle with another cattle prod. "Ow! Mikey!"

"Alright, that's it!" The youngest turtle preps his skateboard, surfing off of the top of the semi and onto the top of one of the vehicles. He gets a grip on the top of the Humvee before bracing himself and punching through the top of the vehicle, grabbing the steering wheel. He laughs. "Hey, Raph, look, I'm driving!"

"You done yet, Nurse?" Raphael asks.

Spike tears off the edge of the tape. "Yup. Go."

He grins at her quickly, shoving a toothpick back into his mouth. "Don't go anywhere."

He jumps out of the back of the truck, propelling himself through the windshield of a pursuing vehicle, beating down the occupants. He yanks the door open and dumps out the unfortunate humans.

April leans out the window, aiming the camera behind the truck.

"April, be careful, they got guns!"

The truck finally slides completely out of control and the door swings open, with April hanging on the handle of the car. She screams.

Spike bangs against the wall, unable to see but for a tiny window. "April! What's going on up there?!"

No response, just more screaming.

"O'Neil!" Vern shouts.

Spike pounds her fist against the wall, terrified. "April!" She grabs her mace in her belt and smashes against the wall, once, twice, three times, four, pounding away at it. "April!"

"It's okay, she's back in," Vern reports.

"AVALANCHE!" Michelangelo's voice howls.

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

"The chopper is twenty miles west out of intercity airspace," Donatello reports as the turtles shell-skid behind the truck.

"Thanks for the traffic update, Donnie," Raphael shouts. "You doing sports and weather next?"

"Well, if you're going to be nasty about it, then I guess you don't wanna know that there's a five hundred foot drop coming up in 53 seconds!" Donatello yells.

"You're sayin' there's a-" Raphael starts.

"A CLIFF!" a reawakened Leonardo shouts. "We gotta get April out of there!"

"And Spike," Raphael adds.

"And don't forget that old guy!" Michelangelo yells.

Spike turns, staring out the back as the cliff's snow rushes down towards them. "April…."

Raphael flips forward, grabbing onto the back of the truck and hauling himself halfway in. He reaches out his arm. "C'mon, we're bailin'."

"They're still up there," Spike says, smacking into the back of the wall with the mace again. The metal was now dented.

"You ain't gonna break through in time, Leo's on it, come _on_."

Spike stops. "Leonardo's going to get her?"

"Yeah. Look, I know I'm a mutant, but do you trust me or what? You're running out of time!"

_Do you trust me?_

Spike turns, squeezes her eyes shut, and wraps an arm around Raphael's neck, barely noticing the goose-bumped scales as he wraps an thick arm around her waist and lets go of the truck, taking the hit with his shell.

The wind tears Spike's ponytail out completely, and she squints into the snow, watching Leonardo grab a hold of Vern and April, jumping out of the cab. A cable trails behind them, attached to Leonardo. "Mikey, grab the cable! Grab the cable!" he shouts as they near the edge of the drop.

Spike's heart leaps into her throat as Michelangelo dives for the cable. _We're gonna make it._

The cable slips out of Michelangelo's hands.

The truck disappears down the cliff, followed by Leonardo, still holding onto the two remaining humans.

_Do you trust me?_

An agonized scream bursts out of Spike's lungs and throat. No words, just an animalistic sound of disbelief and horror.

_No, not April, not April, I should have gotten her myself._

Tears immediately leak from her eyes for the first time in fifteen years.


	21. Chapter 21

"No, Leo! April! And that other guy….." Michelangelo moans. "They were so young! So beautiful!"

"I hope you've got a parachute on under that shell."

_That sounds like Vern._

Raphael scoots to a stop. "Sanchez, you okay?"

Spike tears out of his arms and to the edge of the cliff, searching for a sign of life. "April?!" She wipes at her face. "April!"

"We're here!" April shouts. "We're here, don't worry!"

"The cable caught," Leonardo says, sounding strained. "A little help please?!"

"They're alive!" Spike shouts, grabbing hold of the cable and attempting to haul a three hundred pound turtle and two adult humans back up the mountain. Raphael reaches down in front of her and takes another grip.

Donatello peeks over the edge and smiles. "Hey guys! It's the maintenance hatch, our ticket home!" he shouts, pointing past them. "Guys, we gotta hustle. Shredder's over New York City!"

"Well then, we're gonna have to move fast through the sewers," Leonardo says. "Mikey, take April. Raph, take Buffy over there, will you? We need Donnie to navigate. I'll take Vern."

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

"Please keep arms and legs inside the shell at all times!"

April, dark hair whipping about her, looks mildly panicked as Michelangelo spins on his shell as he rockets through the sewer lines.

Vern just hollers.

"How's the shell?" Spike shouts down at Raphael, awkwardly attempting to keep her bubble of personal space while making sure she doesn't _fall off of Raphael_.

He nods once. "Fine," he mutters. "What about your shoulder?"

"Jus' dandy." Actually, it's a little sore. Spike chooses not to mention this.

April turns around, grinning. "It's more fun if you put your hands in the air, go for it, girl!"

"Forget it, April, you're crazy!"

"Satellites show Shredder's reached the top of Sacks Tower!" Donatello shouts.

"That's where he's releasing the toxin from," Leonardo yells.

"It'll spread all over the city!"

Raphael's grip on Spike tightens. "We got a gap comin' up, hold on or bail out."

Spike holds on as they take off and slide into the next pipe.

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

"Alright, listen up. We've gotta find the elevators to get up to the roof," Leonardo says as the group drops into the basement of Sacks Tower. He points at the humans. "You guys get out of here, get to a safe distance."

"No, no, no, no," April argues. "We can find Sacks and get our hands on the mutagen, like a contingency plan. Just in case, you know."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Raphael says sarcastically.

"If we don't make it back, give the mutagen to Splinter," Leonardo says, ignoring his brother. "It can save his life."

"Sacks's laboratory is on the thirty-sixth floor," Donatello informs them. "I've already disabled the security system." He starts to turn away. "Oh, and uh…good luck!" he adds, turning back.

Spike cracks her knuckles and grins nervously. "I love it when a plan comes together."

April rolls her eyes.

"If I don't return, remember me, April," Michelangelo turns seriously. "You can always find me." He points to her chest, right over her heart. "In here."

Spike stares at him. "What a-"

"Sorry." Leonardo grabs his brother and starts walking.

Spike digs into her jacket pocket and pulls out a pistol, handing it to April. "Took this off a Foot soldier." Her eyes dart between the humans and the turtles as they walk away. Her head says _Stay With April. _Her gut is telling her to go to the roof, to Shredder, to certain death. Drawn there, almost. She wasn't scared anymore, at least, not of the turtles. She felt a connection, a bond, and she wanted to protect them.

"Go with them," April tells her earnestly. "You can help."

"What about you?" Spike asks. "I promised to protect you! I can't just leave you."

April raises the gun. "I'm a big girl," she smiles. "And you need to do this. Besides, Vern's here. I'll be fine." She points. "Go. I'll be rooting for you."

Spike draws the mace, still eyeing her cautiously.

April waves her hands. "Go!"

"Fine! But be careful. Vern, if anything happens to her, you'll be pushing daisies."

"You know it!" He salutes.

Spike finally cracks a half-smile at him, then turns. "Hey guys, wait up!"


	22. Chapter 22

Leonardo stops and turns around an instant before the others do. "Just where do you think you're going?"

"With you. Duh."

"I told ya, she's nuts." Raphael taps his head. "It's too dangerous."

"I've been around the block a couple of times. I know about this stuff," Spike argues.

Leonardo sighs. "Look, we know you're a decent fighter," he begins.

Donatello breaks in. "It's just…it's the Shredder!"

"Brilliant, Holmes."

"You should stay with April," Michelangelo advises.

"That's what I was going to do, and April told me to go with you."

Leonardo crosses his arms. "The answer is no."

Spike tilts her chin up, staring him in the eye. "I promised Splinter I'd make sure you came back to him, I swore it. I can't go back to him and tell him you got hurt, while I just stood by. Besides, you can always use more help."

"You're not even trained," Leonardo points out.

"I've had training in martial arts, boxing, and wrestling," Spike says. "And with this sucker, I don't need to be." She holds up her mace.

Leonardo rubs his forehead. "There's no changing your mind?"

"What do _you _think?"

"Fine. But be careful," Leonardo says reluctantly. "I still think this is a bad idea. Let's keep moving, and stay close."

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

Donatello's eyes remain fixated on his wrist computer as he leads them through the maze that is Sacks Tower. "Elevator's just around this corner!"

"Alright guys just stick to my plan, and we won't fail!" Leonardo says, barreling around the corner. "Fan out in three, two, one-" he skids to a halt.

No elevator, just a storage room, currently containing what looks like the bulk of the Foot clan in New York City.

The group freezes. Michelangelo waves.

The Foot charges, yelling.

"Close the door, close the door, close the door!" Donatello presses the button frantically, and the electric door slides shut just in time. He disables the lock. "Not the elevator," he says helpfully.

"Nope," Leonardo says. He nudges Spike. "Let's move out."

Then they're all actually in the elevator, and it's moving.

It was a small elevator, and there wasn't much room for the lot of them. Spike was directly in front of Donatello and squished behind Leonardo.

_"__Be brave, Sarah. I know you can be. Help April, and Raphael."_

Splinter's words haven't left, and their impact remains. She closes her eyes, and an image flashes into them.

A patch in a crowded graveyard, four tombstones with the name _Sanchez _on them.

_I'll do it for Splinter, I'll do it for April. I'll do it for my family._

**_You may get a tombstone of your own tomorrow._**

As if it couldn't get worse, her reptilian companions are excellent beatboxers.

_Ding!_

Floor 54.


	23. Chapter 23

Spike now realizes that it is possible for one to swallow one's own heart as the doors open on the top floor, and the turtles rush out, shouting their lungs out.

Shredder himself, still in his armor, stands at machinery, loading the program that will send the deadly toxins up into the tower, then throughout the city, killing millions.

_Killing millions._

It was about more than her. It was about the city. Spike steps up behind Leonardo, awkwardly shifting her weight.

"Ready? Stand!" Leonardo calls.

"Hey Mikey, remember that thing we used to say when we were kids?" Raphael asks.

"You made me promise never to say it again!"

"Forget about that. You still got one in the tank?"

"I've been holding it in for years," Michelangelo grins.

"Guys, wait, wait," Leonardo, the sole voice of reason, says. "We need a plan!"

Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello charge, Michelangelo's voice shouting out:

"COWABUNGA!"

Shredder turns into a fluid leap, roundhouse-kicking all three with enough force to knock the rash attackers to their shells.

Leonardo glances at Spike. "Ready?"

"Let's go."

Leonardo and Spike dash for either side of Shredder, who takes down the bigger threat first, throwing Leonardo to the ground, then kicking Spike aside. "You children won't stay down, will you?" He stomps on Leonardo's plastron, and kicks him off the building.

Spike gapes after him as she gasps for breath. "Leo?"

"LEO!" Michelangelo shouts.

Leonardo, with a hold on the lip of the rooftop, holds himself up as broken parts of equipment rain down on the streets of New York City. He starts to pull himself up. "I'm okay!"

"I got this, guys!" Donatello cries, rushing at Shredder. He raises his staff.

"You really don't!" Spike stands and heads towards the giant human ninja, who has his back turned to her, slamming the battle flail into the back of his right knee.

Shredder kicks Donatello with force that has to have been exaggerated by the suit, sending Donatello sailing. Spike kicks viciously at the small of his back before he grabs her leg and throws her too.

Spike rolls and drops onto her side, before shaking her head, trying not to think about how her side hurts, not to mention her shoulder.

Michelangelo is next to take a swing at him, nunchucks spinning as he slams into him. A series of kicks, a throw, and Michelangelo goes flying and lands half on top of Spike, pushing her into the roof.

"Oof!" Spike grunts.

"Sorry!" Michelangelo calls. He keeps rolling, and Spike dives for his hand as he falls off the side of the building. She grabs his wrist with both hands and braces with her knees. Michelangelo grabs onto the side of the building with his other hand. "Go get him, girl! I got this!"

Spike lets go with one hand, and Michelangelo grabs the side of the building. "I got this," he repeats.

Raphael dives for Shredder while his back is turned. Shredder turns, punching him in the side, before kicking him. He sweeps his leg under Raphael's, and shoves him to the side.

Spike stands up. "Hey, Swiss Army Knife!" She holds her mace up. "Why don't you stop picking on these nice reptiles and come and get it?"

_This is stupid._

Raphael rolls off of the roof too.

Shredder barks a laugh, stalking towards her. "You need to be taught a lesson." He raises his bladed gauntlets and strikes.

Spike blocks one with a sweep of the mace handle, ducking under the other one. She crushes her combat boot into his knee and pushes off, slamming the head of her mace into his chin, upper, bashing him in the face with her elbow. The metal is dented already, hopefully that did some damage.

Shredder steps back, further enraged. "Fool!"

Spike looks up, exhilarated despite her pain. Her facial expression changes as the gauntlet comes back down again, a right hook. Spike's arms move sluggishly, trying to bring the short mace up to block.

Unbelievable pain rips through Spike's face as the gauntlets do, deeply 'shredding' the right side of her face.  
She cries out, stumbling back. The mace clatters to the ground, almost slow motion as Spike feels warm liquid spilling down her chin, into her collarbone, soaking her shirt dark red.

Two huge gashes flow red from her cheek as Spike attempts to regain some semblance of balance.

Raphael hauls himself up the side of the building, along with Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo. Donatello peeks over the edge. "Guys, he's coming!"

Shredder kicks the turtle off, and Donatello shouts as Leonardo grabs his ankle, stopping his descent.

Spike stands, grabbing her mace up off the top of the building, staring at the shadow she creates, as red splotches drip onto the concrete. She roars, and yanks herself to her feet, smashing Shredder's shoulder even as her own protests.

Shredder sighs, turns, and swings a fist. Spike grabs his wrist and smacks her elbow into it. No reaction.

"Ow," Spike groans.

"Keep him busy!" Raphael bellows. The bolts stabilizing the pipe that Leonardo is holding onto start to pull.

Spike swings at Shredder's legs, standing to regroup before Shredder pulls back, and rakes his blades across her abdomen. Satisfied, he moves to his machinery.

Spike collapses to her knees, staring at the torn fabric of her shirt. Another stream of blood from a wound over her left eye begins to flow as she sucks in air as unbelievable pain sets into her lower body. _Gotta get back up._

**_I can't._**

The human being laying on top of the building can barely be recognized as the same person anymore. Soaked red, eyes shot red, sweat and dirt building up everywhere.

_It's up to them. I tried. I kept him busy._

Leonardo throws Donatello upward. Donatello extends his bo staff for Raphael to grab as the piece of metal Leonardo was holding onto breaks away. Donatello grabs onto Leonardo as Raphael gets a good grip on the staff. Raphael proceeds to heave the both of them up onto the roof and continues climbing as Spike shakily pulls herself to her knees.

Shredder turns, attacking Donatello and Leonardo as they come at him from both sides. Spike wipes blood from her mouth and drags one foot forward, on one knee now. _C'mon, get moving, you pathetic street punk._

Donatello rolls over onto his plastron, on the ground again, and Leonardo struggles to his feet as Shredder approaches. He jumps, preparing to slam his metal hand into Leonardo's neck.

Raphael, finally back up to the roof, blocks the blows with his sais. The human breaks contact with Raphael's sais and strikes. Raphael dodges and punches him in the face.

The man shoves Raphael backward, raising the other hand and hurling Leonardo again, moving to stab him.

To Spike, it's all a blur. A scene from a movie, a dream, a distant memory, maybe. It doesn't seem real. Nothing seems real anymore.

Nothing except the very real throbbing.

Leonardo blocks with his swords and rolls out of the way. Raphael is smashed against the edge of the building again.

"Enough! The lesson is over," Shredder thunders. He glances over the turtles, all sitting at the edge of the building. He reaches to the ground, plucks Spike up by her leg, and turns back to the turtles. "Here's your pet. Charming, but ineffective."

_Oh no._

He throws her.

Michelangelo reaches up, grabbing a hold of her waist and semi-gently lowering her. He does a double take. "Dudette, you look _terrible!_"

"I told you it was dangerous," Raphael whispers.

"We're getting our butts kicked," she says hoarsely.

"And we've only got fifty more seconds before the toxins release," Leonardo says, staring at the tower in despair.

Michelangelo perks up and grins, clacking his shell necklaces together. "Hey. Who wants to play buck-buck?"


	24. Chapter 24

"Buck-Buck?" Raphael asks incredulously.

"What?" Leonardo asks.

"Huh?" Spike wipes blood away from her eyes.

"Buck-Buck," Donatello repeats wearily. "Tony on a Pony, some people call it Johnny on a Rock. It's a game, Spike, a game we all played. Didn't you play at all?"

Spike just stares at him. "We're gonna die, aren't we?"

"Wait…" Leonardo sounds like he's getting an idea. "Yeah. Let's play buck-buck."

"But why would we-" Donatello's voice breaks in.

Raphael waves. "No. We do what Leo says." He looks at his older brother. "Lead the way." He fist bumps Leonardo. "Spike, do us a favor and stay down." He glances her over. "You look like you couldn't wrestle an earthworm."

For once, she doesn't argue.

Leonardo gets up and starts running towards Shredder, swords up. He jumps, slices at Shredder with the swords, and drops down to his hands and knees.

Michelangelo is next, jumping on top of his brother and kicking out at Shredder, knocking him back, before he too drops to his hands and knees.

_Ah, I get it. _Shredder retreats two steps as Donatello rushes him, vaulting over his brothers and knocking his bo staff into Shredder's side, pushing him further. Raphael starts his run up, jumping from Leonardo, to Michelangelo, to Donatello, before leaping, sais raised, to crash down on Shredder from above.

Shredder falls back again, the final step, off the building. Raphael puts his toothpick in. "Cowabunga," he rumbles.

Spike limps over. "That last step was a doozy."

"You're hysterical."

Donatello rushes to the machinery hooked up to the tower that would release the toxins in mere seconds.

"Are you okay?" Leonardo asks, checking her over.

"Been better," Spike shrugs. "Been worse."

"You've been worse than having….." Michelangelo points. "That?"

The throbs turn into sharp stabs of pain. "Oh."

Leonardo freezes, glancing over her shoulder.

"What?" Spike turns in time to see Shredder's gauntlet, then his arm, then his head and shoulders as he pulls himself back up the building. She groans.

Raphael turns to Donatello. "I'll buy you some time!"

"Just die," Spike pleads. "Please. Just die."

Shredder stands, and, using the same trick he used on Splinter, throws his knives.

Raphael spins his sais, Michelangelo cracks his nunchucks, and Leonardo's katanas sing as they whip through the air, deflecting the vast majority of them.

Not all of the blades miss their mark. Several embed into the tower, weakening the support. One sinks into where Spike's left shoulder meets her chest. She doesn't even shout, her eyes just bug and she staggers, mouth open in a soundless scream as she gasps for breath. She grabs the handle of the knife, grits her teeth and pulls. The knife slowly and painfully slides out, and Spike's other hand snaps up to cover the wound. She painstakingly takes off the hoodie, and ties it around her shoulder as the chaos continues. Her finger closes around the bloody knife handle and throws it back weakly before sinking to her knees. The wind goes right through her blood-soaked t-shirt, and she shivers.

She doesn't feel brave.

She's a scared little girl again, just being told that she had no family.

And she thinks again: _What happened? Two days ago, life was normal._

Now she was going to die, surrounded by heroes while she sat bleeding her life out while New York City burned. Knives continue to fly, and she raises her head, and sees the spire start to emit red gas. _Among millions. _

Then it stops.

"BAM! System disabled!" Donatello cries. "Who wants Italian? I'm buying!"

Shredder looks up, his tactic changes, attacking the base of the spire. Spike frowns, uncomprehendingly before she realizes.

_It'll affect everyone around the tower anyway._

Leonardo leads the charge as the turtles move, rushing to hold up the base, keeping it stable as it starts to teeter.

**_I WILL NOT DIE A COWARD._**

"Hold on!" Leonardo cries. "Hold it! Hold it!"

Spike grunts and drags herself over, and then to her feet. She grimaces and locks her joints, holding her own weight and pushing upward.

"If this tower falls," Donatello shouts. "It could still contaminate everyone in a ten-block radius!"

"What are the odds of us stopping that from happening?" Leonardo asks.

"Uh, 0.00000000003 percent!" Donatello tells him.

"I'll take it." Leonardo's response is quiet, determined. "Nobody moves, no matter what."

_No matter what._

Shredder approaches mockingly as the tower's structure groans from the stress.

"Leo!" Michelangelo shouts.

"I said nobody moves!" Leonardo yells.

"I'm lettin' go!" Raphael shouts.

"NO!"

Shredder punches Leonardo in the stomach.

One familiar voice screams across the building. "SHREDDER!"

April O'Neil, still wearing her yellow jacket, smudged with dirt, stands holding the jar of mutagen over her head. "This is all that's left!"

"Stupid girl," Shredder remarks.

Spike's jaw drops. "APRIL! What are you doing?!"

Shredder jumps and lands in front of April. "That belongs to me."

"Hold on!" Leonardo shouts. "Hold on!"

Spike's knees buckle, and she strains to stay standing. Tears of pain prick her eyes.

The tower starts to fall, despite their best efforts.

Everything is absurdly loud and muffled in Spike's ears, drowned out by the rush of sudden hatred flowing, hatred for Shredder, and hatred for herself.

She lost her family, she lost her courage. Splinter's dying. April is in danger, the turtles are almost certainly in trouble along with almost everyone in a ten block radius.

_I've failed. I've failed you, Splinter. I'm sorry._

Spike's fifteen year record snaps in half, along with her rule of "No crying". Tears unabashedly stream down her face, mixing with sweat, and blood and dirt. The salt burns the gashes in her face.

_I'm going to die. I will have that tombstone._

_I'll be with Dad and Mom, and Molly and Lily._

_I'm sorry, April._

Shredder jumps, grabbing the mutagen and knocking April off.

April's screams echo in Spike's ears, drowning out the self-loathing and self-pity.

The burden seems light now. Spike stands up straight as white hot fury runs through her veins, much better than adrenaline for forgetting fear and pain. She is no longer scared.

She is _angry._

The spire is falling, despite their efforts. New York is going to suffer a wound.

Spike lets go of the spire and breaks into a dead run, in one last foolhardy attempt to save her best friend's life.

_Protect April O'Neil!_


	25. Chapter 25

The spire falls horizontal, beginning to tilt downward. Shredder grabs onto the falling spire, as does April.

More debris rains down on New York.

Spike runs to the edge of the building, looking down the downward slanted tower before jumping onto the rickety structure, and racing down it carefully, all four turtles behind her.

April is still screaming as Shredder pulls one of his blades embedded into the side of the tower out. He slices through the metal that supports April, and she falls.

_Be brave, Sarah. _Spike squeezes her eyes shut and dives after April, opening them in time to grab her outstretched arm. She feels a strong hand grab her leg.

"I gotcha," Raphael's voice assures her.

Spike twists around, craning her neck, and nods at him.

"Hold on!" Leonardo calls, tightening his grip on Raphael's leg. Donatello has Leonardo, and Michelangelo, in turn, holds Donatello up. Spike spins back around, keeping a good hold on April, whose wide eyes are panicked.

"April, it's okay," Spike whispers as her shoulder and abdomen scream. "Just hang on, just hang on."

Then there they are, four turtles and two humans dangling from the tower of Sacks Industries.

Shredder draws back to hurl a blade at Michelangelo, who holds up the entire group. Michelangelo swings his nunchucks, and the blade backfires, sinking into the Shredder.

"Let me score a hit!" April calls.

"April, no, it's too dangerous," Spike pleads. "You can't do this."

"You fought him!" April protests. "Let me! Leo?!"

"Do it!" Leonardo shouts. He throws his katana into Shredder's shoulder.

Spike clenches her hands around April's arm and swings her into the Shredder as the reporter kicks out at him. April lets go and grabs onto the spire, reaching into her pocket and pointing something at Shredder.

_My Taser!_

April fires a direct hit into Shredder's facemask. The evil ninja shakes.

Spike reaches down and grabs Leonardo's katana out of his shoulder, smacking her elbow into him.

Shredder falls at last, down countless stories, creating a small crater on the streets below.

"You go, girls," Michelangelo smiles.

Four turtles and Spike land onto the spire as it tilts more, sliding completely off of the building. April reaches out and grabs Spike's hand, turning her face into her jacket as they land bone-jarringly on a billboard.

"I think this is it, guys!" Donatello declares.

"Does anyone have anything they wanna say?" Leonardo asks.

Spike squeezes April's hand. "I'm sorry," she whispers. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," April murmurs.

The spire crashes again.

"Donnie?" Leonardo asks.

"I'm the one who licks the icing off the poptarts every morning and puts them back in the box!" Donatello cries. Another crash.

"I so did not understand the ending of Lost!" Michelangelo shouts.

"Raph?" Leonardo asks.

"Uh, I just..uh," Raphael starts. "If this is our last moment together, I just want you guys to know I'm sorry! I'm sorry I was so hard on you! Every time I pushed you, I threatened you, I yelled at you, I pushed you beyond your limits, it was because I believed in you! I believe in each one of you! I believe in your spirit, your intelligence, your potential! And every time I talked about walking away, it was because I was scared! I just didn't think I was good enough to stand next to you and call you my brothers, and say to you, I love you! I love you guys so much!"

Spike turns away from April for a moment, and despite her blurry eyes, thought she detected tears running down Raphael's scaly face.

The motion stops.

"Raph," Donatello gulps. "We made it."

Sure enough, they're at the bottom, and alive.

"Are you crying?" Michelangelo asks.

"Nah, Ding-Dong, it's just a little dusty out here," Raphael lies.

The dust settles and a crowd gathers, and four turtles and two humans swing down into the sewers.

**_~Shell-Shocked~_**

"Okay, the mutagen is now entering his bloodstream…" Donatello anxiously says as the turtles lean over Splinter. April sits a few feet away, watching intently as Spike sits in the corner, trying not to move.

"Master Splinter?" Michelangelo leans over Splinter more.

"Nothin's happenin," Raphael points out.

"Why isn't it working yet?" Michelangelo asks impatiently.

Splinter's eyes open slowly.

"Mikey, Mikey come closer," he whispers.

Michelangelo brings his head down to the rat's and listens to his hushed words.

He sits back up.

"What'd he say? What'd he say?" Leonardo asks.

"He said please get your knee of my chest," Michelangelo informs him.

"Sensei!" Leonardo smiles.

"You're alive!" Michelangelo exclaims.

"It worked!" Raphael says.

"I'm sorry," Leonardo says. "This was all my fault."

"You were right," Raphael admits. "We weren't ready."

"No," Splinter says. "It was I who wasn't ready to let you go. All you needed was to discover that your true power lies in believing in one another."  
His sons smile.

Spike leans against the wall and chews on her bottom lip as the adrenaline dies off, and she _hurts, everywhere._

April glances at her. "You okay?"

"Yeah."

Donatello turns around. "What's the matter?"

Spike manages to give him the most sarcastic look of the day.

Donatello moves over and touches the bloodstained hoodie, still tied around the wound in her shoulder. "What…." He gently unties it, and his eyes widen. "Goodness gracious, what happened to you?"

"What do you mean what happened? The Shredder happened. I'll be fine in a day or two."

"Is that Sarah?" Splinter asks. "Come here, child."

Spike grits her teeth and pushes off of the wall, grunting. Donatello bends over, helping support her, leading her over to Splinter's bedside.

Michelangelo grimaces as he picks at the blood on her shirt. "Dude. You look like you fought Rambo and won."

"Won?" April asks in disbelief. "She looks terrible!"

"But if she lost, she'd be dead."

Donatello settles her next to Splinter. The rat smiles to see her, cut, bruised, broken as she is. A combination of blood, sweat, dirt and tears has made her face practically unrecognizable. A slice above her left eye has finally stopped bleeding, but the two huge slices in her face still leak a little.

"I'm sorry, Splinter," she says in a rush. "I wasn't brave at all. I couldn't take care of April, or Vern, much less your sons. Shredder almost killed April, Vern got shot, and your sons…." She gestures. "I couldn't do anything for them."

"You brought them back," he says softly, reminding her of her promise. "That matters. You were brave, child, as you were so long ago. You no longer have to be alone. You never were. April was there, was she not?"

"Of course I was," April says, smiling.

"Now here is _my _promise to _you_. We will be here for you from now on."

"Yeah," Michelangelo nods emphatically. "You're like our new sister!" He slings an arm around her shoulders.

Spike yelps.

Donatello shoves Michelangelo away. "What's wrong with you? She's hurt! Get a med kit, we're going to do a serious patch job. Honestly, it's no wonder you never understood _Lost._"

Spike raises her eyebrow Donatello. "Yeah, well how do _you_ sleep at night, licking the icing off poptarts? It is impossible to eat poptarts without icing."

He shrugs guiltily.

Spike squints at Raphael. "C'mere."

He steps a little closer. "Why?"

Spike lunges forward and bites his wrist firmly.

"Ouch!" He steps backward, rubbing his arm.

"Revenge is sweet, but you are not," Spike remarks, spitting. "Never trying that again." She shrugs. "Sorry." She notices a scar on his arm, long. "How long have you had that?"

Raphael glances indifferently. "Long as I can remember, why?"

"When April and I took the baby turtles out of that fire, fifteen years ago, one of them had glass in his front leg. I pulled it out." She cocks her head. "Weird how things circle around."

Splinter smiles. Leonardo steps forward. "As leader, it is my duty to welcome April and Spike officially into our family."

April hugs Spike, very gently. "Look at that. You've got a family again," April whispers.

Spike nods once.

"Are you okay?" Michelangelo asks.

"Of course I am," Spike sniffles defensively. She bursts into tears.

April pats her back.

"Is this a bad time for a group hug?" Michelangelo asks.

**_~Shell Shocked~_**

The next day, Spike holds the camera as Vern stands nearby with his arm in the sling. April smiles into it, recording for a new station now.

"Three days ago, New York would have called Eric Sachs its hero. But today, we know he's one of the greatest villains this city has ever faced. How were we so easily fooled? And what can we learn from this tragedy? Maybe, it's that heroes aren't exactly who you might expect them to be. They're not wealthy billionaires, they're not square-jawed comic-book characters with flowing capes. Heroes can be anyone. Like the vigilantes that saved this city. They were born in shadow, they live in shadow, they fight in shadow, and they always will."

Spike watches a flashy van, painted with turtle motifs and shells, decked out with the works, moves behind the crowd. The turtles' new ride, custom made, is their new mode of transport, and rather easy to see. Donatello waves from behind the wheel.

Spike takes one hand off of the camera and waves back.

And that's where we'll leave her, until next time.


End file.
